This is Planet Money from NPR.

There is a gigantic money pipe.

This unfathomably large hose through which hundreds of millions of dollars flow every single day.

At least that's how we think of it.

More officially at the Treasury, it's known as the secure payment system.

The federal government basically runs through that money pipe.

Almost 90% of all federal payments flow through it.

Payments to Medicaid and Veterans Affairs and Customs and Border Protection.

Payments to the Library of Congress, the SEC, the FCC, the FCIC, that's the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

Congress allocates trillions of dollars to go to specific parts of the government.

And when those parts of the government need a chunk of their allowance, they request it and

Treasury sends it through the old money pipe. And then, a few weeks ago, the pipe, what's the way

to put this? Got frozen, I guess, partially frozen? The Trump administration ordered a pause,

a freeze on a huge chunk of federal spending, on federal assistance, grants and loans and subsidies, that kind of thing, saying basically, do not request your funds.

All of those need to be reviewed. Then the courts blocked that freeze, but then, reportedly, some parts of the government were still not getting

their money. Nobody seemed to know what was happening. And there have been enormous consequences

amid all this confusion. Hundreds and hundreds of people lost their jobs. Clinics and daycares

across the country don't know if they will have money to operate.

Retirees fretted about getting their payments.

But the United States is a country of transparency.

And if you know where to look, there is a way to cut through all the confusion and peer deep into the giant money pipe for answers.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Erica Barris. And I'm Mary Childs. Today on the show,

...