A federal court has blocked an order from President Donald Trump to temporarily freeze a broad swath of federal spending on controversial programs.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a two-page memo on Monday ordering a freeze of federal spending aimed at cutting off funding used to “advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.”
A federal judge on Tuesday paused the impending freeze, scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. The judge granted a request to stay Trump’s spending freeze as part of a lawsuit, according to NBC News.
Trump instituted the freeze to give his administration time to “identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements.” The order targeted a plethora of federal spending programs totaling potentially trillions of dollars.
“Federal agencies 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,” the OMB letter said.
The order exempted Social Security, Medicare, and other programs. In followup guidance from the OMB, the agency clarified that the spending 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.”
“Any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause,” the OMB said.
Full memo here – outlining what is and isn’t impacted by OMB pause on federal funds for a period of review
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
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) January 28, 2025
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Tuesday accused Trump of plunging “the country into chaos” with the order.
“Donald Trump must direct his Administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers’ money should be distributed to the people. Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law,” Schumer said.
