A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's freeze on all federal loans and grants-- which would leave millions of dollars in funding in limbo in Connecticut.

The Trump administration says the freeze would not affect federal assistance to individuals, such as Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships. But it said a pause is necessary to ensure funding for other programs complies with Trump's executive orders, which aim to reverse progressive policies on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion.

States on average receive about 30% of their revenues from the federal government, according to Federal Funds Information for States, a nonprofit that analyzes the effect of federal actions on states. President Trump's funding freeze could impact pay for three thousand state workers-- plus funding for police, non-profits, and veterans programs. Universities around the country are scrambling to determine how a funding freeze could affect their research programs, students and faculty.

The freeze was supposed to take effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

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Connecticut and 21 other states are suing to stop the freeze. "This freeze is going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of people just to give you a couple examples of how broad this is - a bridge we're re-building in Bridgeport is going to have to pause it's progress --to farmers, farmers get a lot of crop insurance and subsidies from the federal government, all of these people probably who have been expecting that money to come in, now are not going to get it. So that's going to create I think some chaos. I just hope it doesn't last very long, because the longer it lasts of course, the more uncertainty there is out there and the more people get hurt," said Congressman Jim Himes.

"It's utterly unconstitutional and unlawful. It's lawless on so many different levels, it exceeds any reasonable conception of presidential power," said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong.

The judge paused the freeze until Monday afternoon. Lawmakers and legal experts say the move is illegal and needs Congress' approval to suspend funding. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the president to submit a request to Congress to withhold funds.