This week, Donald Trump tried to freeze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans, and his administration also shut states out of Medicaid payment portals. It was a huge catastrophe, obviously, and dozens of states immediately sued the Trump administration. One judge ordered a temporary halt on the spending freeze. And now Donald Trump and his administration have backed down:
The White House on Wednesday rescinded a directive that froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans after the order led to mass confusion and legal challenges that accused the Trump administration of violating the law.
The order, issued Monday night, was an attempt to purge the government of what President Trump has called a “woke” ideology. A federal judge in the District of Columbia temporarily blocked it Tuesday afternoon, but the lack of clarity sent schools, hospitals, nonprofits and other organizations scrambling to understand if they had lost their financial support from the government.
On Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director for the Office of Management and Budget, told federal agencies that the memo freezing aid had been “rescinded.” In a brief notice, Mr. Vaeth said: “If you have questions about implementing the president’s executive orders, please contact your agency general counsel.”
The decision to pull the directive was a significant reversal and the first major capitulation by Mr. Trump since returning to the White House.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, wrote on social media that “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.” She said the president’s executive orders on federal funding “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
She appeared to be referring to the fact that the executive orders Mr. Trump signed last week — which directed government agencies to review and eliminate spending on so-called woke ideologies — remain in force.
The thing about the new nitwit press secretary is that her hissy fit on social media was cited, in real time, in one of the emergency court hearings and decisions, as AOC pointed out in the tweet below. In the original thread, Karoline Leavitt’s comments made the judge in the case strengthen his ruling on the restraining order for the funding freeze – the judge was going to make it a temporary restraining order (on the funding freeze) given the lack of clarity, but now the restraining order will be expanded on a case by case basis as funding will still be blocked, per the press secretary’s comments.
In case you’re having a bad day at work, remember that at least you’re not Trump’s @PressSec who tweets were so bad today she earned the entire administration a federal restraining order.
Keep talking and tweeting, girl! You’re doing great!
https://t.co/HgndHpoZ1h
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 29, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
