In a stunning late-night maneuver, the Trump administration ordered a temporary pause on federal financial assistance, a halt that could disrupt trillions of dollars and hundreds of programs.
“This memorandum requires Federal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements,” wrote Matthew J. Vaeth, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“To implement these orders, each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders. In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, 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.”
Since this morning, state Medicaid programs across the country are reporting they’ve lost access to federal payment portals.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters in Harrisburg that several computer systems that run federally funded programs like Medicaid, workforce development database CareerLink or preschool provider Head Start are inaccessible in Pennsylvania and other states.
“We literally can’t access the payment systems that are used to run these programs every single day. That’s incredibly concerning to us,” Shapiro said.
According to the Medicaid.gov website, more than 2.8 million Pennsylvanians are enrolled in Medicaid as of October 2024.
More than 6,000 state workers funded by the federal government are at risk of being furloughed depending on what programs are being frozen, Shapiro added, and he looks forward to a more detailed directive from the federal government to be released later today.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly.”
Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D) said in a statement that “I am closely monitoring the repercussions in PA as a result of the federal funding pause. “My office just received calls from over a dozen PA organizations, including one that serves both 🔴 ➕ 🔵 low-income families, and their access to funds through the Federal Payment Management System have been cut off. We’re also aware of reports of PA’s Medicaid portal being down. These services, including Medicaid, are critical to our most vulnerable and I am calling on the president to immediately restore access.”
Sen. Dave McCormick (R) backs the President’s plan, as long as it does not affect direct benefits to Pennsylvanians.
“President Trump campaigned on getting our spending under control. I support that objective, and as a former CEO, I know that sometimes you need to press pause to make sure spending lines up with your strategic plan. I am hearing from constituents about the spending pause and am closely monitoring what it means for PA. If there are problems, I want to get them fixed, fast.”
Other organizations are pushing back against the pause.
“We’re filing a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the White House Office of Management and Budget from pausing all federal agency grants and loans. National Council of Nonprofits is filing together with public health and small business leaders, represented in court by Democracy Forward,” said Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits.
“This reckless action by the administration would be catastrophic for nonprofit organizations and the people and communities they serve. From pausing research on cures for childhood cancer to halting housing and food assistance, shuttering domestic violence and homeless shelters, and closing suicide hotlines, the impact of even a short pause in funding could be devastating and cost lives. This order must be halted immediately before such avoidable harm is done.”
Pennsylvania congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-04) said, “while we do not know the full scope of this abrupt, unlawful halt in critical resources – we do know that seniors, families, children, and the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians will suffer. I call upon the President and his administration to immediately reverser course and uphold the rule of law and our Constitution.”
Congressman Chris Deluzio (D-17) said that the federal dollars “supports our cops, firefighters, teachers, kids, and so much more. Know this: I’m going to fight to get this funding unfrozen and delivered to western Pennsylvania.”
Philadelphia congressman Brendan Boyle, the ranking member of the House Committee on the Budget, said the OMB memo is unprecedented and dangerous and will cause chaos. He called on the administration to immediately reverse the action, saying “Anything less is a betrayal of the hardworking American families and communities that rely on these vital resources.”
Congressman Dwight Evans (D-03), also of Philadelphia, said “Trump’s abuse of power now includes blocking food for kids, SNAP, Meals on Wheels, funding for police, firefighters, veterans and more. Congressional Democrats oppose Trump’s radical, unconstitutional power grab – will any Republicans?”
Pittsburgh congresswoman Summer Lee (D-12) said “Trump’s memo is supposedly “ending wokeness” but in the process is robbing people of their ability to afford groceries, education, health care, and housing. Everyone from students to seniors, small business owners to construction workers, that rely on federal funding are now facing uncertainty about if they will have a job or be able to go to school or even to have their next meal.”
As of 5:15 p.m., U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan stayed the federal freeze until 5 p.m. on Monday, February 3, with a hearing on the request for the TRO at 11 a.m. that morning.
This story was updated to include quotes from McCormick and Evans.
4 Responses
If it’s a non profit organization it shouldn’t be affected by the freeze and if they are affected by the freeze they are not a non profit organization. That’s common sense. Tax payers money is not their piggy banks any longer. We work to hard for our money, for Democrats to spend it so recklessly. You guys did this to yourself and thank God for President Trump to put a stop to it. We are taxed to death and nobody has cared for far to long.
Trump took an oath on January 20th to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, then immediately began writing executive orders that violated that oath. This illegal funding freeze should make it abundantly clear to everyone that his only concern is for the wealthy. He cares nothing about the lower and middle-class folks who voted for him (as he told them quite bluntly “I only want your vote.”) The damage being done by this funding freeze is unimaginable, as previously approved and allocated funds have stopped flowing to every conceivable program from suicide hotlines to homeless and domestic violence shelters to veterans programs and healthcare. He must be stopped! This is not about Red vs. Blue or Republican vs. Democrat. This is about human dignity, ethics, morality, basic human kindness, and respect for our fellow man. He has none of these attributes. He is destroying our Nation!
We need to pray for our leaders to do the right thing for us
We need to pray for our leaders to do the right thing.