Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said on Tuesday that President Trump’s federal aid freeze could end up at the Supreme Court.
“How does this end? This is already in the courts, you know [the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)] better than anyone, how does this end?” NewsNation’s Blake Burman asked Mulvaney on “The Hill.”
“In this building across the street, not the one with the dome, but the one with the fancy columns in front, this goes to the Supreme Court,” Mulvaney responded.
Late Monday, federal agencies were directed by the Trump administration to halt the disbursement of grants and loans amid a government review to ensure spending falls in line with the president’s agenda.
Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), issued a memo directing federal agencies to temporarily halt “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
Late Tuesday afternoon, a federal judge temporarily prevented the plan to halt federal aid shortly before it was to go into effect. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan will have another hearing over whether to grant an extended pause.
During a recent briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the pause on federal grants and loans.
“It is a temporary pause, and the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the federal funding that has been going out the door,” Leavitt said.
In his “The Hill” appearance, Mulvaney also commented on what amounts to a buyout being proposed from the Trump administration to all 2 million federal employees if they do not plan to come back to work in person later this year.
“What he’s trying to do is essentially do what you do in the … private sector, buy people out of their jobs,” he said, adding that it’s difficult to fire people from government jobs.
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