Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, President Trump and his White House team rescinded the order freezing federal spending in the wake of wide-spread controvery.
Ellen Perrault
As ICE raids continue across the country and with Medicaid portals down in all 50 states, President Donald J. Trump added to chaos, panic and confusion today with a sweeping order mandating the immediate pause of all federal aid. impacting federal grants, loans and other financial assistance.
A White House memorandum from Matthew J. Vaeth, Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget titled, Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs announcing the order, began, “The American people elected Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States and gave him a mandate to increase the impact of every federal taxpayer dollar.”
The memo further declares, “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
The directive requires all federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities to ensure they are “consistent with the President’s policies and requirements.” The memo requires these agencies to temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance, including, but not limited to, “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
Although the pause has the potential to impact trillions of dollars in federal funding, it is unclear which programs will be affected or how. There is growing concern of the potential impacts this pause could have on the most vulnerable communities across the country, including to much needed programs for those at risk including victims of domestic violence, homeless shelters, child care assistance, to name a few.
The temporary pause, set to take effect at 5:00 pm today, is not expected to impact Social Security, Medicare or food stamps.
Early this afternoon, a group of Democratic attorneys general announced they will sue the Trump administration in an attempt to block implementation of the order. Just before 4:00 pm PST, in a separate legal challenge, a district court judge in Washington, D.C., on behalf of a group of nonprofits, ruled she did not have enough information to rule, she entered an administrative stay until 11:00 a.m. Monday.