The White House has lifted the freeze on federal grant spending
news.online.ua
Wed, 29 Jan 2025 21:01:00 +0200
US federal grant spending unfrozeThe White House Office of the Budget and Administrations executive order on the evening of Jan.
27 has thrown uncertainty into a crucial funding path for states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington, and has forced the White House to struggle to explain what will and will not be a funding pause.The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal management, confirmed that OMB rescinded the order Wednesday in two sentences for agencies and departments.Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants was necessary to ensure spending was consistent with Trumps recent executive orders.
Agencies were ordered to answer a series of yes or no questions about each federal program by Feb.
7.
Among the questions were does this program promote gender ideology and does this program promote or support abortion in any way But the vaguely worded memo, combined with incomplete responses from the White House throughout the day, has left lawmakers, government officials and ordinary Americans scrambling to figure out which programs will be affected by the suspension.
Even temporary funding breaks can cause layoffs or delays in government services.The freeze was set to take effect at 5 p.m.
Jan.
28, but a federal judge delayed it until at least Monday after an emergency hearing requested by nonprofit groups that receive federal grants.
A separate lawsuit by Democratic attorneys general is also pending.Trump administration officials have said that programs that provide direct assistance to Americans, including Medicare, Social Security, student loans and food stamps, will not be affected.
But they have sometimes struggled to provide a clear picture.Democratic critics of the order quickly moved to celebrate the action.
This is an important victory for the American people, whose voices were heard after massive pressure from all corners of this country real people making a difference by speaking out, said Senator Patty Murray.
Trumps scandalous decisioEarlier it became known that the US government decided to temporarily suspend the issuance of all grants and loans.
This did not only apply to social security or health insurance programs.Under the new order, agencies were required to suspend all activities related to the payment of federal financial assistance.The assistance provided to individuals also did not stop.
By the way, on January 24, it became known that the US had suspended the issuance of most foreign aid grants.
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