Illinois temporarily unable to access Medicaid hours before Trump’s grant freeze goes into effect

Hours before President Donald Trump’s administration was due to put a freeze on federal grants and loans, agencies in Illinois were unable to access federal funding sites, including Medicaid.

Shaw Local confirmed with Gov. JB Pritzker’s office on Tuesday afternoon that the state had been shut out.

“State agencies have reported to the Governor’s Office issues with accessing federal funding sites and disbursement systems, including Medicaid systems‚” a spokesman for the governor’s office said via email.

Tuesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted that the White House was aware of the Medicaid website not working.

“The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage,” she posted on the social media site X. “We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly.”

Pritzker confirmed at a news conference late Tuesday afternoon that the state was once again able to access the Medicaid website.

The pause takes effect at 4 p.m. CT, and it’s unclear from the memo how sweeping it will be. Vaeth said that all spending must comply with Trump’s executive orders, which are intended to undo progressive steps on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office said she is “doing everything it can to process federal funds prior to the deadline.”

“Because my office prioritizes Medicaid payments, we are current on those bills,” Mendoza said in a statement. “In fact, on Thursday we processed all $518 million in Medicaid bills on-hand and have already received our federal match yesterday before the administration shut down our access to the Medicaid system.”

Mendoza blasted Trump for the grant freeze.

“However, I am very concerned about how long this ‘freeze’ may last,” Mendoza said. “It is reckless for President Trump to take this action with essentially no guidance or explanation about exactly which federal funds are included, leaving states to pick up the pieces and figure out how to best protect and provide services to their residents.

“Our most vulnerable residents in all 102 counties, along with our healthcare, human services and social service providers, should not be punished by this action dictated by the Trump Administration.

“The situation is reminiscent of the Rauner years, when the former Illinois governor held the budget hostage for his social agenda that led to a budget freeze for more than two years and many providers, vendors, businesses and organizations suffered greatly as a result. ”

The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Democrats and independent organizations swiftly criticized the administration, describing its actions as capricious and illegal because Congress had already authorized the funding.