The outage, which occurred just after the White House ordered a pause on federal grants, raised concerns that billions in Medicaid funding would be cut off.
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump paused federal grants and loans in a far-reaching directive, early childhood education centers and states discovered Tuesday they could no longer access money they rely on to provide care for some of the nation’s neediest families and children.
Across the country, staff trying to access Medicaid and Head Start funding through payment websites Tuesday morning were locked out, leaving some scrambling to figure out how they would cover payroll and pay vendors and rent. But the White House said hours later that funding for those programs should not have been affected by the freeze. By late Tuesday, some states and Head Start providers reported their access to the sites had been restored.
The confusion left some Head Start centers weighing whether to close. Early Flowers Learning, which …