Federal agencies “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” White House Office of Management and Budget acting director Matthew Vaeth said in the memorandum, a copy of which was obtained by CNN. The pause also blocks the issuance of new grants. The memo specifies that the pause will not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits, nor does it include “assistance provided directly to individuals.” The freeze on federal assistance is slated to take effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. It marks the latest move by the Trump administration to exert control over federal funding, even that which has already been allocated by Congress.
The White House is pausing federal grants and loans starting on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s administration begins an across-the-board ideological review of its spending.
The White House budget office ordered federal agencies to freeze 'all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,' which includes grants and loans that do not align with the new administration's priorities. This is not meant to target any 'assistance provided directly to individuals,' such as Medicare or Social Security. Rather, the leaked memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) details how agencies must now pause all more widely distributed federal grants, loans and financial assistance programs. In the interim the agencies are tasked with identifying which one Trump would want to slash based on his slew of executive orders signed in his first week back in the Oval Office. The actions would bring the budget into alignment with the president's push to end the government advancement of 'wokeness,' transgenderism, environmentalism and 'Marxist equity' – or so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Many institutions are scrambling to decipher the order and find out if their funding and grants will be pulled. In Fiscal Year 2024, more than $3 trillion was dolled out for federal financial assistance, much of which the new administration feels was a waste of taxpayer funds.
