Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Trump's Attempt to Freeze All Federal Aid | Amanpour and Company

Governments around the world are bracing for how President Trump's decisions will affect them as he "floods the zone." In America, politicians and experts committed to constitutional democracy are scrambling to react as well. Trump's latest move -- an attempt to freeze all federal aid -- triggered chaos and confusion amongst educators, charities, and even Medicaid. As with many of Trump's actions, it is unclear whether he even had the executive authority to issue such an order. Today the order was abruptly rescinded. But what does this tell us about Trump's strategy? Chris Van Hollen, Democratic senator from Maryland, serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. He joins Christiane from Washington to discuss. Originally aired on January 29, 2025 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Major support for Amanpour and Company is provided by Jim Attwood and Leslie Williams, Candace King Weir, the Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Programming Endowment to Fight Antisemitism, the Leila and Mickey Straus Family Charitable Trust, Mark J. Blechner, the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation, Seton J. Melvin, the Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney Fund, Charles Rosenblum, Koo and Patricia Yuen, Barbara Hope Zuckerberg, and Jeffrey Katz and Beth Rogers. Subscribe to the Amanpour and Company channel here: https://bit.ly/2EMIkTJ Subscribe to our daily newsletter to find out who's on each night: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/newsletter/ For more from Amanpour and Company, including full episodes, click here: https://to.pbs.org/2NBFpjf This program is made possible by viewers like you. Please support your local PBS station: http://www.pbs.org/donate Like Amanpour and Company on Facebook: https://bit.ly/2HNx3EF Follow Amanpour and Company on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2HLpjTI Follow Amanpour and Company on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3SaTUhk Watch Amanpour and Company weekdays on PBS (check local listings). Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City. #amanpourpbs