The White House Budget Office ordered a pause in grants, loans and other federal financial assists, according to a memorandum sent to government agencies on Monday, which potentially paralyzes a large strip of programs and endangers the expense that Congress He has ordered by law.
In the two -page memorandum, Matthew J. Vaeth, interim director of the Office of Administration and Budget, ordered federal agencies that “temporarily pause all activities related to the obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance”, and any Another program that includes “Dei, aroused the gender ideology and the New Deal Green”.
Mr. Vaeth pointed out that the Pause, which comes into force on Tuesday, would continue until at least in mid -February, and said it was necessary to guarantee federal programs aligned with the political priorities of President Trump.
“The use of federal resources to advance in the Marxist engineering policies of equity, the transgender and the new green agreement is a waste of taxpayers who do not improve the daily life of those we serve,” Vaeth said.
It is not clear immediately which programs would fall into those categories. The New Deal Verde, for example, was a policy proposal that never became law.
The scope of the pause, although potentially sweeping, was not clear either. The memorandum forged an exception for the “assistance received directly by people”, and the benefits of Medicare and Social Security, but did not provide examples, as if a fiscal benefit for ecological purchases told for the exception.
The memorandum also cited “more than $ 3 billion” in federal financial assistance that would be affected by the directive, but also provided general figures of expenses that significantly inflated the federal budget. Government analysts estimated the budget for fiscal year 2024 to $ 6.7 billion. Mr. Vaeth’s memorandum states that the Government spent “almost $ 10 billion” in that fiscal year.
Confusing the situation even more, it is not clear that President Trump has the authority to unilaterally stop government funds assigned by Congress. Under the constitutional separation of powers, Congress approves expense billand the president Execute the law as written.
Failure to comply with Mr. Trump’s budget rules during his first term played a role in his first political trial in 2019, when he stopped the flow of military aid to Ukraine that Congress had assigned.
Glenn Thrush, Maggie Haberman and Amy Schoenfeld Walker Contributed reports.
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