Trump’s Office of Management & Budget (OMB) ordered a sweeping, immediate freeze on federal financial aid tonight, leaving millions to question whether they will still have help to put food on the table or if their children will go hungry. Funding will be suspended at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, January 28.
The order does not specify which programs have been halted, but it does exclude Social Security and Medicare. It claims to also exclude programs where the money is delivered directly to individuals, leaving some hopeful that programs like SNAP and WIC will remain. However, those programs are administered by the states; the money does not go directly from the federal government to Americans’ wallets.
While Donald Trump continues to work alongside Elon Musk, a man whose companies have been funded by billions in government assistance, many believe this freeze will cut trillions from programs that the country and our families actually depend on.
On a broader scale, this freeze halts funding for domestic infrastructure, energy projects, diversity-related programs, foreign aid, and every program funded by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2021. Note: Ending all funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act is a policy position of Project 2025 (p.365).
The two-page memo from Acting OMB Director Matthew J. Vaeth was leaked to the press shortly after it was sent to government agencies. In it, Vaeth blames the decision on taxpayer dollars going towards “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering.”
There is no evidence to support these claims; it is just another instance of the GOP’s scapegoating of minority groups and political boogeymen. As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pointed out in a statement tonight, “Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law.”
“They say this is only temporary, but no one should believe that,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump must direct his Administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers’ money should be distributed to the people.”
Read the memo below.
