The White House Office of Management and Budget rescinded a memo on Wednesday that put a freeze on federal grants and loans amid widespread backlash and confusion.
Another memo obtained by CNN indicated that the initial guidance was rescinded.
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in a post on X, clarified that this does not mean that the actual freeze has been revoked.
This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.
It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.
Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction.
The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.
This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) January 29, 2025
It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.
Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction.
The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.
The first memo was issued on Monday night. It instructed federal agencies to “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,” according to NBC News.
The purpose of the freeze was to allow the White House to determine which programs were “consistent” with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Full memo here - outlining what is and isn’t impacted by OMB pause on federal funds for a period of review
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) January 28, 2025
Document shows pause is not across the board, but limited to programs impacted by executive orders such as ending DE, the Green New Deal, and NGOs that “undermine the… https://t.co/1AknxYbIVY pic.twitter.com/5z5l6QqV9H
However, the language did not make clear which agencies and programs would be halted, leading many to believe that Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs would be paused. This was not actually the case, but the confusion remained.
It is also worth noting that Democrats added more confusion to the issue, spreading the falsehood that Trump was pausing entitlement programs. In a post on X, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) falsely claimed Trump had “shut off Medicaid.”
Trump shut off Medicaid. https://t.co/8li76lCGGY
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2025
The administration attempted to clarify that these programs were not being stopped, but people were still confused.
Nonprofit groups that worked on health care and homelessness, for example, told NBC News that they were unable to get into websites to withdraw funds, and online portals to access Medicaid payments were temporarily down.
Democracy Forward, a progressive nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit against OMB that resulted in Judge Loren AliKhan issuing the order that temporarily blocked the freeze from going into effect.
“While we hope this will enable millions of people in communities across the country to breathe a sigh of relief, we condemn the Trump-Vance administration’s harmful and callous approach of unleashing chaos and harm on the American people," Skye Perryman, the CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. "Our team will continue to bring swift legal actions to protect the American people and will use the legal process to ensure that federal funding is restored.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday celebrated the revoking of the memo, saying it happened after an “outcry across America.”