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Tags: trump | administration | omb | funding | freeze | rescind

White House: Trump's Funding Freeze Remains 'in Full Force'

House Speaker Mike Johnson responds to Kilmeny Duchardt on budget reconciliation
House Speaker Mike Johnson responds to Kilmeny Duchardt on budget reconciliation
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By    |   Wednesday, 29 January 2025 03:54 PM EST

A White House spokesperson Wednesday said the federal funding freeze announced earlier this week by President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget remains in effect despite media reports it had been rescinded.

"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 [executive orders] on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented," Leavitt posted on X.

Earlier, various news outlets reported the funding freeze had been rescinded.

A White House official announced the decision to pull back a proposed spending freeze that threatened to disrupt hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to U.S. programs, Reuters reported.

The decision was announced in a copy of a new memo, obtained by The Washington Post, after the administration's move earlier this week to stop spending resulted in a backlash.

Acting OMB acting Director Matthew J. Vaeth used the memo to tell federal agencies that the department's memorandum M-25-13 "is rescinded," the Post reported.

In a memo Monday, Vaeth said funding for federal grants and loans would be put on hold while the Trump administration reviews them to ensure the recipients are aligned with Trump’s priorities, including executive orders he signed last week ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

OMB oversees the federal budget.

The first major domestic policy reversal of the Republican president's new term came after one federal judge in Washington, D.C., had temporarily blocked the freeze and before another judge in Rhode Island was set to hear a separate legal challenge. The proposal had thrown the federal government into chaos and disrupted payments to medical and child-care providers.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, said before the reported withdrawal of OMB's spending freeze memo, he was inclined to issue a temporary restraining order given the lack of clarity/potential for harm, according to a post on X by Kyle Cheney, chief legal affairs reporter for Politico. McConnell now believes there might need to be case-by-case legal actions as funding is blocked.

In a follow-up post, Cheney wrote the Democrat-led states that sued to stop the funding pause still want a temporary restraining order because of the White House statement's that the spending freeze is still in effect. He added McConnell said he will grant the restraining order, saying the withdrawal of the "hugely ambiguous" OMB order is only a distinction without a difference "based on comments by the president's press secretary."

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Charlie McCarthy

Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.

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A White House spokesperson Wednesday said the federal funding freeze announced earlier this week by President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget remains in effect despite media reports it had been rescinded.
trump, administration, omb, funding, freeze, rescind
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2025-54-29
Wednesday, 29 January 2025 03:54 PM
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