Freezing the Freeze on Federal Funding

February 3rd, 2025

Jana Schodzinski

On Tuesday, January 23, President Donald Trump announced that the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, would issue a freeze on all federal funding. This included financial assistance such as federal grants and loans. That afternoon, federal judge Loren L. Ali Khan temporarily blocked the policy as a way to “preserve the status quo.” On Friday, federal judge John J. McConnell sided with the 22-state coalition to block the freeze. Despite these actions, harm was still done to these programs, causing mass chaos and confusion in the media.

A key reason why the memo caused such controversy was its vague nature. Federal assistance programs and Americans dependent on these programs alike were uncertain of which programs were still serviceable. Alikhan stated, “The government doesn’t know the full scope of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause.” For instance, Head Start, a federally funded program that supports children in developmental stages from low-income families, was unavailable during the freeze despite its alleged exclusion from the freeze. Families dependent on this organization and more were left in the dust, with misinformation running rampant in the media. After days of urging the memo and eventually getting cleared to implement it on February 3, the OMB ultimately decided to rescind the memo. Despite these difficulties, the freeze still has far to go.

After the memo was rescinded, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.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,” Leavitt went on to clarify the president’s continued motives to review federal spending. In short, though the OMB memo is no longer a topic of discussion, the executive orders placed by Trump are still in full effect, and it is likely that there will be future freezes on federal funding after a clearer order is crafted.

Efforts to block federal aid are far from over. President Trump and his administration have stated that future freezes will not affect Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans, or scholarships. However, the administration is adamant on the compliance of federal funding to Trump’s executive orders, meaning that funds to protect transgender rights, environmental justice, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are sure to face major cuts in the coming weeks.