Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sharply attacked President Trump over the federal funding freeze memo and credited the American people with precipitating its reversal.
“Today, we saw what happens when Americans fight back against disastrous policies,” Schumer said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Americans made their voices heard. Donald Trump rescinded the OMB order.”
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Wednesday rescinded Monday’s controversial memo that froze large swaths of federal financial assistance, paralyzing many federal programs throughout the country.
The reversal followed massive blowback on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers were bombarded with calls from constituents who had questions about which programs would be affected and about access issues to web portals, including for Medicaid.
The reversal also came after a federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the order until at least next week.
“When the Trump administration announced this awful directive on Monday night, we knew immediately it was shortsighted, disastrous, cruel, and dumb,” Schumer said at the press conference.
“It was clear, then, as it is now, that the directive was given without any comprehension of what it actually called for, let alone the ramifications on literally hundreds of millions of Americans, and the American people are outraged, from one end of the country to the other,” Schumer added.
On Monday, the acting director of the White House budget office, Matthew Vaeth, ordered a pause of grant, loan and financial assistance programs to ensure compliance with several of Trump’s executive orders, including a 90-day pause on most foreign development assistance; the termination of all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs; and a pause on climate programs funded by former President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
That memo stated that 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.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized on Wednesday that Trump’s executive orders halting foreign assistance, terminating DEI programs and others referenced in the OMB memo from Monday remain “in full force and effect.”
“In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage. The Executive Orders issued by the president on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments,” Leavitt said in a statement.
“This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the president’s orders on controlling federal spending. In the coming weeks and months, more executive action will continue to end the egregious waste of federal funding,” she said.
