A Trump administration order to pause federal spending on Tuesday led to bureaucratic bedlam in Rhode Island and across the country as state government officials tried to assess the local impact of suddenly turning off federal spigots.

A judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s potential freeze of federal funding. This comes after Rhode Island and Massachusetts signed onto a multi-state lawsuit, which successfully temporarily blocked the pause of trillions of dollars nationwide from going into effect.

The attorneys general of Rhode Island and Massachusetts joined four colleagues from other states Tuesday in filing a federal lawsuit that seeks to block the Trump administration’s freeze on federal-assistance funding,

Advocacy groups for nonprofits, health care and small business fought to block the memo they argued could lead to 'catastrophic' harm cutting funding.

President Donald Trump's attempt to freeze hundreds of billions of dollars in federal aid was temporarily blocked in court on Tuesday, even as it sowed chaos throughout the government and stirred fears that it would disrupt programs that serve tens of millions of Americans.