Donald Trump’s unlawful Monday night time order to freeze the disbursement of all congressionally appropriated federal funds could have sweeping damaging penalties for thousands and thousands of People, together with unhoused veterans, seniors, and youngsters.
Trump’s Workplace of Administration and Finances, which is principally the human assets of the federal authorities, issued a memo Monday saying that each one federal businesses, “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
Reviews concerning the damaging impacts of Trump’s funding freeze got here quick and livid on Monday, displaying that the blanket pause on spending—which is unlawful below the Impoundment Management Act of 1974—won’t solely harm probably the most susceptible, nevertheless it might additionally impede legislation enforcement operations.
“Last night 500 pounds of meth were seized in Arizona thanks to federally funded programs that could see their funding paused under Trump’s unlawful order. This illegal action would seriously hamper the work of law enforcement agencies working to keep our communities safe,” Arizona Lawyer Normal Kris Mayes posted on Bluesky.
Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, stated on Bluesky that states are reporting that they’re unable to entry portals to Medicaid, which offers well being care to greater than 79 million low-income folks throughout the US.
“Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal. This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful,” he wrote.
Sen. Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, issued a memo itemizing the attainable impacts of the spending freeze, together with cuts to state meals inspectors, Okay-12 faculties throughout the nation, federal scholar loans, small enterprise loans, and extra.
Meals on Wheels, which offers nutritious meals and companionship for 2.2 million seniors throughout the nation yearly, instructed HuffPost reporter Arthur Delaney that “the uncertainty right now is creating chaos for local Meals on Wheels providers not knowing whether they should be serving meals today. Which unfortunately means seniors will panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”
In line with Huffpost, Head Begin packages acquired communication from the Trump administration that funds might be delayed because of the freeze. Head Begin offers preschool and different companies to just about 800,000 low-income youngsters, and a freeze in funds might trigger suppliers to be unable to make payroll for his or her workers.
Jeff Stein, White Home economics reporter for the Washington Submit, reported {that a} Northern California nonprofit that assists unhoused veterans by serving to get them off the streets and into shelters will probably be unable to offer these companies if federal grants are shut off.
“They are close to 100% funded by federal grants,” he wrote on X. “Official warned homeless veterans will get hurt if their grants are frozen, which they think appears likely under the OMB order.”
Topher Spiro, an Workplace of Administration and Finances official throughout the Biden administration, stated that the funding freeze may also reduce off opioid prevention funding, funding for the suicide lifeline, HIV/AIDS therapy, and grants to assist states handle the chook flu outbreak.
In an try to stem the chaos created by its late-night memo, the Trump administration is now saying that the freeze is not throughout the board.
In a memo obtained by Stein, Trump’s OMB stated that the freeze is “expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President’s Executive Orders, such as ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest.”
The Inexperienced New Deal just isn’t legislation, and thus no federal funds are tied to it.
The unique memo asserting the freeze was not clear, and the Trump administration’s try to wash it up is an indication that it feared public backlash from the insane and lawless order.
“This is written in a very matter-of-fact way as if all this was clear from the original memo. It really was not,” NOTUS reporter Tara Golshan wrote on X.
What’s extra, within the first each day White Home press briefing of the brand new Trump administration, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that organizations must personally ask finances chief nominee Russ Vought, who has but to be confirmed, to get funds—though Congress already appropriated the cash, and the legislation says that Trump can’t reduce off funding simply because he desires to.
Already, a gaggle of nonprofits filed an emergency lawsuit searching for to halt Trump’s freeze, arguing that the order is unfair and capricious and “fails even to acknowledge the catastrophic practical consequences that an immediate, across-the-board freeze on federal grant programs will produce, let alone to provide a reasonable explanation why those consequences could possibly be warranted merely to conduct a review of which ones ‘may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.’”
“This Memo—made public only through journalists’ reporting, with barely twenty four hours’ notice, devoid of any legal basis or the barest rationale—will have a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of grant recipients who depend on the inflow of grant money (money already obligated and already awarded) to fulfill their missions, pay their employees, pay their rent—and, indeed, improve the day-to-day lives of the many people they work so hard to serve,” the lawsuit states.
Even though that is blatantly unlawful and can harm thousands and thousands, Republicans are shrugging their shoulders concerning the pause.
“I think that’s normal practice at the beginning of an administration until they have an opportunity to view how the money is being spent,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune instructed reporters—a blatantly false assertion.
Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, stated that the Trump administration ought to have taken a unique method to a spending freeze, however was finally nonplussed about the truth that Trump is making an attempt to illegally cancel congressionally appropriated funds.
“There are a lot of federal programs that appear to be swept up in this order, and I think the administration needs to be more selective and look at a department at a time, for example,” she instructed HuffPost’s Igor Bobic. “But make sure that important direct service programs are not affected.”
Democrats, in the meantime, are hammering Trump and Republicans over the pause.
“Final night time, President Trump plunged the nation into chaos. With no shred of warning, the Trump administration introduced a halt to nearly all federal funds throughout the nation, Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer stated. “In an instant, Donald Trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars that directly support states, cities, towns, schools, hospitals, small businesses and most of all American families. This is a dagger at the heart of the average American family in red states, in blue states, in cities, in suburbs, in rural areas. It is just outrageous.”
“What happened last night is the most direct assault on the authority of Congress, I believe, in the history of the U.S. It is blatantly unconstitutional,” Sen. Angus King, impartial of Maine, instructed HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery. “If this stands, then Congress may as well adjourn.”
