A judge blocks President Trump's sweeping federal assistance freeze.
Plus, the White House offers government workers a buyout deal.
And with Americans now carrying bigger credit card balances, we'll look at what that says about the economic picture.
On average, the consumer is healthy, but sometimes when you speak on averages, you miss some parts of the story.
There are pockets of consumers that are just feeling the effects of inflation and high rates more than others.
It's Wednesday, January 20, 20, 29th.
I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of what's news, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.
We begin in Washington, where a federal judge blocked federal agencies yesterday from implementing a White House effort to pause potentially trillions of dollars in federal assistance programs just minutes before the order was set to take effect.
The stay in the order's implementation is set to last until Monday, when oral arguments case can be held.
Journal reporter Ken Thomas says the ruling capped a chaotic day as government officials nationwide struggled to understand which programs might be halted.
The White House said the order wouldn't affect individual assistance programs such as Social Security and Medicare benefits, food stamps and welfare benefits.
But despite the White House assurances, several states said they had difficulty accessing funding portals from the federal government for Medicaid and other services.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said his home state's Medicaid payment system had been turned off, and as a result doctors and hospitals couldn't get paid.
In Massachusetts, the attorney general, Andrea Joy Campbell, said her state had tried to draw 41 million in Medicaid funds and couldn't access it.
Despite the confusion, Republicans on Capitol Hill said no one should be surprised by this move.
Dusty Johnson, a Republican congressman from South Dakota, said Trump had talked about this throughout his campaign and the new president wants to change the way D.C.
operates.
Separately, attorneys general from 22 states and the District of Columbia have sued to stop enforcement of the White House funding freeze, which they argue unconstitutionally overrides Congress's power to decide how federal funds are spent.
In another bid to downsize the federal government, the White House is giving federal workers a buyout offer, telling them they have until February 6th to decide whether to return to the office full time or resign and get paid for the next eight months.
White House officials estimate in office requirements will prompt 5 to 10% of federal employees to quit, leading to $100 billion in savings annually, though they didn't detail how they reached estimate.