UPDATE, 1/29/25 1:30pm. OMB has announced it is rescinding its memorandum freezing grants and other federal assistance. Please note that Executive Orders released last week that paused funding for federal programs related to DEI, climate, foreign aid and other policy areas, remain in effect. Visit https://www.whitehouse.gov/
The Trump administration has directed federal agencies to pause virtually all grants and federal assistance programs – but the action has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum on Monday requiring agencies to freeze financial assistance until the administration can review them to ensure they comply with the President’s policy objectives outlined in various Executive Orders published since January 20. The temporary pause was scheduled to go into effect at 5:00pm ET Tuesday. The memo does not provide a date on which the pause will expire.
The memo covers federal financial assistance, including grants, cooperative agreements, loans, loan guarantees and other forms of financial assistance. It does not cover direct payments to individuals, entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, and government contracts.
According to the memo, “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.” The memo requires agencies to conduct 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.”
A second memo issued by OMB on Tuesday clarified that “Any program not implicated by the President’s Executive Orders is not subject to the pause,” but still requires agencies to submit a list of all programs to OMB to “determine quickly whether any program is inconsistent with the President’s Executive Orders.”
But late Tuesday, a federal judge in Washington blocked the proposal, in response to a lawsuit filed by a non-profit organization.
This is a rapidly evolving situation; ACRA will provide updates in ACRASphere as they become available.