Trump White House tries to clarify confusion over abrupt federal assistance freeze
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on January 28, 2025
(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during her first press briefing on Tuesday, faced a barrage of questions on the administration’s freeze on federal financial assistance programs that congressional Democrats called flatly illegal.
Agencies face a 5 p.m. ET deadline to comply with a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget to cease spending on any grant or loan programs if they suspect it might conflict with President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders on DEI, foreign aid, climate spending more.
The memo prompted widespread confusion among advocacy organizations and state officials, some of whom reported error messages when trying to access portals to draw down funds for Medicaid, community health centers and more.
A legal challenge has been filed by nonprofits and health groups who argue the Office of Management and Budget is exceeding its authority.
“There’s no uncertainty in this building,” Leavitt said when asked to clarify about exactly what programs will be impacted.
“Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause,” she said.
Leavitt later added, “However, it is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That is something that President Trump campaigned on.”
Leavitt said the freeze was temporary, but did not expand on a specific timeline on when it would end.
When asked if Medicaid was impacted by the pause, Leavitt couldn’t immediately say. She also did not directly respond to a question on the impact on organizations like Meals on Wheels, which provides meals to 2.2 million seniors, or Head Start, a program for preschool education, that receive federal funding.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden posted on social media about reports about Medicaid portals being down in states as he criticized the freeze.
Leavitt, after the briefing, wrote on X: “The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage. We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly.”
An OMB memo obtained by ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott also sought to shed light on the freeze’s implications.
According to the memo, “in addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.”
“Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused,” the document read. “If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the President’s Executive Orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments.”
Still, the pause could have sweeping implication as the federal government funds thousands of programs, including housing subsidies and educational grants.
The Environmental Protection Agency, which gives grants for an array of national, state and tribal programs — including some to assist with air and water quality — said on Tuesday it was temporarily pausing disbursement.
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