White House abruptly backs off Trump's federal funding freeze after lawsuits and outrage
White House abruptly backs off Trump's federal funding freeze after lawsuits and outrage
Share:
Two-sentence memo ends days-long threats that sent officials, agencies and nonprofits into tailspin over ‘unconstitutional’ threats. The White House has abruptly rescinded a directive that threatened to freeze billions of dollars in federal assistance.
![[Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters about Trump’s federal funding freeze on January 28]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/18/38/US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-k6ca2t8r.jpeg)
A two-sentence memo from acting White House Office of Management and Budget director Matthew Vaeth simply states that a previous directive is “rescinded,” and directs questions to government lawyers. The office is still expected to continue reviewing government grants and assistance, and could try to block funding if officials believe recipients run afoul of Trump’s ideologically driven commands to abandon anti-discrimination and equity efforts outlined in a blitz of executive orders.
“This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. “Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction. The President's EOs on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”.
Democratic senators are also demanding that a vote to confirm Trump’s nominee to lead OMB, Russell Vought, be postponed until he can answer whether he intends to issue a similar directive. A group of Senate Democrats have called Vought — who has pushed Trump to ignore federal law that affirms Congress’s spending authority — “a clear and present danger to Congress’s Power of the Purse.”.
A lawsuit from a coalition of nonprofit organizations and small businesses warned that the order “will have a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of grant recipients” who depend on the steady flow of grant money that they’ve already been awarded.
