Chuck Darwin<p>White House illegally pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion </p><p>The White House budget office is ordering a pause to all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government, <br>according to a loosely worded internal memo, sent to agencies Monday, <br>-- creating significant confusion across Washington.<br>
In a two-page document, <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/Matthew" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Matthew</span></a> J. <a href="https://c.im/tags/Vaeth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vaeth</span></a>, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, instructs federal agencies to <br>👉“temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.” </p><p>The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, also calls for each agency to <br>👉perform a “comprehensive analysis” <br>to ensure its grant and loan programs are consistent with President Trump’s executive orders, <br>which aimed to ban federal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, <br>and limit clean energy spending, among other measures.<br>
The memo states its orders should <br>👉not be “construed” to impact Social Security or Medicare recipients, <br>and also says the federal financial assistance put on hold <br>“does not include assistance provided directly to individuals.”<br>
But the document says programs affected are <br>👉“including, but not limited to, financial assistance for <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/foreign" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>foreign</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/aid" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>aid</span></a>, <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/nongovernmental" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nongovernmental</span></a> organizations, <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/DEI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DEI</span></a>, <br><a href="https://c.im/tags/woke" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>woke</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/gender" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>gender</span></a> ideology, <br>and the <a href="https://c.im/tags/green" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>green</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/new" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>new</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/deal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>deal</span></a>.”</p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/27/white-house-pauses-federal-grants/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/business/20</span><span class="invisible">25/01/27/white-house-pauses-federal-grants/</span></a></p>