In her first-ever daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized the freeze as "not a blanket pause" and said that assistance that goes directly to people, such as Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and welfare benefits, will not be affected.

A White House memo set off a flurry of panic across nonprofit groups, who said they were unable to access federal government systems used to withdraw funds.

President Trump temporarily freezes federal funding as programs and organizations that receive federal grants are reviewed. Here's what that means.