Nonprofit groups and businesses that receive federal money for work abroad said the freeze breaks federal law and has shut down funding for even the most urgent life-saving programs abroad.

The ruling marked the second the time a federal judge had pushed the Trump administration to act after finding that it had ignored an earlier order.

President Donald Trump's administration said in a court filing late Tuesday night that it "cannot" meet a federal judge's 11:59 p.m. Wednesday deadline for releasing frozen funds to foreign aid contractors and grant recipients,