Published 12:42 pm Tuesday, January 28, 2025
A U.S. District Court judge may put a restraining order on President Donald Trump’s executive order placing a “temporary pause” on federal funding for many programs, the latest in a swirl of uncertainty around the order and its level of impact.
Trump ordered the pause on federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs Jan. 27.
Funds for farmers and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are among those programs that will continue despite the pause, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a Jan. 28 fact sheet.
Any program that provides direct benefits to individuals is not subject to the pause, the office said.
Twenty-three attorneys general filed a lawsuit Jan. 28 to block the memo, which would freeze up to $3 trillion in federal assistance.
U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action the afternoon of Jan 28, minutes before it was set to go into effect, according to the Associated Press. The administrative stay paused the freeze until Feb. 3.
In a memo Jan. 29 to heads of executive departments and agencies, made available by the national legal organization Democracy Forward and others on social media, OMB acting director Matthew Vaeth advised questions about implementing President Trump’s executive orders be directed to agency genera counsel.
“OMB Memorandum M-25-13 is rescinded,” Vaeth’s memo stated.
“This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X. “It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. 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.”
U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell may issue a new block on the funding freeze, citing Leavitt’s post indicating that it is still in effect, according to Politico.
Any payment required by law to be paid would be paid without interruption or delay, according to the fact sheet, issued prior to the rescinding of the executive order.
“… the pause does not apply across-the-board. It is expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President’s Executive Orders, such as ending (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest,” OMB said in the statement.
Executive orders listed in the guidance are:
• Protecting the American People Against Invasion
• Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
• Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements
• Unleashing American Energy
• Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
• Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
• Enforcing the Hyde Amendment
The guidance establishes a process for agencies to work with OMB to determine “quickly” whether any program is “inconsistent” with Trump’s executive orders, according to the office.
“A pause could be as short as a day,” the office states. “In fact, OMB has worked with agencies and has already approved many programs to continue even before the pause has gone into effect.”
Any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is “explicitly” excluded from the pause and exempted from the review process, according to OMB. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.
“Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused, OMB states. “If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the President’s Executive Orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments.”
The shift in federal priorities could potentially impact awarded research projects and those awaiting funding from federal agencies or sponsors, Washington State University’s Office of Research stated on its website.
The WSU office continues to monitor federal agency communications “as they determine how this directive will impact their programs and how those determinations will impact any federally funded research or other work at WSU.”
Research faculty should continue to follow grant, proposal, or funding deadlines and instructions as they are currently posted until further information is made available, the office advised.
“The rescission of the OMB memo does not affect any of the executive orders issued in the first weeks of the new administration and agencies will continue to review existing grants for compliance with the orders,” the research office stated.
“Our federal relations team and Office of Research are watching things closely,” Wendy Powers, dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Research and Natural Resource Sciences, told the Capital Press. “Things are evolving rapidly but at this point, it is too soon to know what the impacts will be … I am staying away from speculation on this and focusing on what we know, when we know it.”
“It is a temporary pause to give agencies time to ensure that financial assistance conforms to the policies set out in the President’s Executive Orders, to the extent permitted by law,” OMB stated. “Temporary pauses are a necessary part of program implementation that have been ordered by past presidents to ensure that programs are being executed and funds spent in accordance with a new President’s policies and do not constitute impoundments.”
Why is the pause necessary?
“To act as faithful stewards of taxpayer money, new administrations must review federal programs to ensure that they are being executed in accordance with the law and the new President’s policies,” OMB stated.
