WASHINGTON — An abrupt freeze on nearly all federal grants and loans announced Monday night by President Donald Trump’s administration has created widespread confusion across the government, Congress, state programs and non-profit organizations that rely on federal funding.
The Office of Management and Budget sent a vaguely worded two-page memo to all federal agencies Monday night directing them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
The agency also sent an 836-page spreadsheet, obtained by NBC News, asking federal agencies that provide financial assistance for details on a range of programs, including:
- The federal Pell Grant program
- School meals for low-income students
- The WIC nutrition program for pregnant women and infants
- Wildfire preparedness for the Department of Interior
- The Medicare enrollment assistance program
- USAID foreign assistance
- Mine inspections
- A reintegration program for homeless veterans
OPM asked for the information to be submitted by Feb. 7.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers scrambled to figure out what the funding freeze would mean for their constituents.
“The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country,” the Democratic leaders of the House and the Senate appropriations committees — Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. — wrote to OMB, going on to say that the pause is unconstitutional and unlawful.
Groups representing non-profit organizations and small businesses reached by NBC News said they were also struggling to figure out what the implications could be for their members, like those providing health care, housing and early childhood education.
“While we understand that this is an evolving story, this disruption, at best, will slow down Head Start agencies’ ability to pay hundreds of thousands of staff, contractors, and small businesses who support Head Start operations in every corner of the country,” Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association, said. “At worst, this means that hundreds of thousands of families will not be able to depend on the critical services and likely will not be able to work.”
The OMB memo sent out Monday evening said the funding review would be related to “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.”
