On Monday, Jan. 27, a memo from the Executive Branch’s Office of Management and Budget called for an immediate pause to certain federal funding, which incited widespread concern and confusion. The memo specifically called for a halt to funding used “to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.”
This federal funding freeze DID NOT go into effect.
A federal judge was able to block the order on Tuesday, Jan. 28, and the next day the White House rescinded the memo. Critics of the strategy note that the Executive Branch cannot make unilateral decisions in regards to the budget Congress already voted upon. However, the White House insists the court is not constitutionally permitted to block their actions, and asserts that, “a brief pause in funding to align federal spending with the president’s agenda is within the law.”
Will my financial aid be affected?
As of now, no. The Department of Education released a statement on Tuesday, Jan. 28. clarifying:
“…the pause does not impact ‘assistance received directly by individuals.’ This includes Title IV, HEA funds, which are provided to individual students.
“We will provide additional updates as they become available.”
However, President Trump has repeatedly targeted universities and institutions of higher education as hotbeds of “wokeness,” so though this particular effort to revoke funds may not affect financial aid for students, future efforts still might.
Will food stamps be suspended?
No, food stamps were explicitly noted as a program not being targeted by this initiative, along with Social Security, Medicare and student loans.
Will Medicaid be affected?
According to the White House: no. However, there has been conjecture that an obstacle to submitting new claims on the Medicaid website may be linked to this related effort to restrict federal spending. The White House denied this connection, but did avoid addressing questions surrounding Medicaid initially.