The Justice Department has said that it told federal agencies to comply with a court's restraining order against the freeze.

Leaders of dozens of Head Start preschools said they might need to close temporarily because they remain locked out of their federal funding, a problem that first surfaced last week during President Donald Trump’s aborted effort to freeze federal grants.

Madonna Princer, executive director of Head Start for Kent County, said her program is facing continued delays in accessing federal funding.

Trump's directive to pause federal grants raised concerns for programs like Meals on Wheels and Head Start. While direct assistance such as Social Security and Medicare remains unaffected, uncertainty surrounds funding for community-based nutrition and early childhood education services reliant on federal grants.

As the White House paused federal grants and loans in a far-reaching executive order, 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.

A federal judge on Thursday said he stood ready to enforce an order he issued blocking U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from freezing federal grants, loans and other financial assistance after Democratic-led states said billions of dollars in funding was still being tied up.

Issues with a federal payment system have rattled Head Start programs across Washington in the wake of the Trump Administration's recent funding freeze.

Dozens of Head Start programs, which provide childcare and preschool education to low-income children, have been unable to access previously approved federal funding, putting some programs at risk of having to close their doors in the coming days,