All four members of Maine’s congressional delegation are criticizing the Trump administration’s sweeping freeze on the use of federal grant funds.

Democratic 1st District Representative Chellie Pingree called the freeze illegal while Independent Senator Angus King called it blatantly unconstitutional.

Democratic 2nd District Jared Golden Representative said, “Congress controls federal appropriations, not the executive branch”, calling the freeze announcement vague.

Republican Senator Susan Collins broke with most fellow party members to criticize the directive as, “far too sweeping.”

Meanwhile, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey is joining a 23 state lawsuit to reverse President Trump’s order.

The suit seeks a temporary restraining order to block the grant freeze – a directive from the Office of Management Budget – which would suspend up to $3 trillion in federal funding.

However, a federal judge has already blocked the funding order, based on a separate lawsuit brought by nonprofit groups, which will last until Monday afternoon.

The judge issued that decision Tuesday afternoon, hours before the freeze was set to go into effect at 5 pm,

The directive from the the Office of Management Budget would affect funding for disaster relief, education, child care, transportation, cancer research, law enforcement and other programs. It directs federal agencies to review their grants, loans and other programs to ensure they comply with the President Trump’s executive orders.

So far, the freeze on grants is being linked to Medicaid reimbursement portals being shut down in all 50 states.

The White House issued a statement late Tuesday, saying the systems will be “be back online shortly” without any effect on payments.

Here’s the statement from Attorney General Aaron M. Frey on Joining Multistate Lawsuit against Trump’s Budget Memo:

“The President’s withholding of federal funding is unconstitutional and demands legal action, which is why I am joining with my colleagues to hold the President accountable. In addition to being unlawful, this indiscriminate action to hold back congressionally-authorized federal funds generates needless uncertainty for so many individuals, families, and businesses who should be able to reasonably rely upon the funds committed to their wellbeing. The disruption that will flow from this unconstitutional pause will disadvantage so many Mainers and compromise the services they are lawfully entitled to. This overreach by the President to unlawfully withhold congressionally-directed funding cannot, and will not, go unchallenged.”

Here’s the news release from Senator Angus King on the grant freeze:

“This is a profound constitutional issue. What happened last night is the most direct assault on the authority of Congress, I believe, in the history of the United States. It is blatantly unconstitutional. Article Two does not give the executive the power to determine budgets or expenditures. That power is vested in [Article One] – in the Congress. And if this stands, then Congress may as well adjourn, because the implications of this is the executive can pick and choose which congressional enactments they will execute.”

The  statement from District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree on the grant freeze is as follows:

“I am outraged by President Trump’s reckless directive to freeze federal funding. This is an unprecedented and unlawful assault on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, and a dangerous overreach that puts vital federal programs in limbo. Aside from Social Security and Medicare benefits, all other federal funding—from critical housing and food assistance to public safety and health care services—is essentially choked off by this illegal action.”