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The White House on Wednesday said that a temporary freeze on federal grants and loans remained in place, but that it had rescinded a memo stating the same — seemingly in opposition to a federal court order Tuesday to temporarily block the measure.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt on Wednesday said ”This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,” but simply a withdrawal of the memo.
“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.
White House aides told CBS News that the memo withdrawal is just aimed ”to get around the court injunction,” and is not an end to the freeze on federal spending that the Trump administration opposes.
The initial directive froze funds for programs spanning education, housing, health, and disaster relief that combined touch the lives of tens of millions of Americans, Reuters reported.
″The funding shutdown is still in place. They are just doing it without the piece of paper,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. said.
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Democrats criticized the funding freeze as an illegal overstep of Congress’ authority, while Republicans largely defended the order as necessary to reign in the government’s $6.75 trillion budget in line with Trump’s campaign promises, Reuters wrote.
Trump’s directive was the latest move in his attempt to overhaul the US government, which has also seen hiring freeze and diversity programs cut, as well as offering widespread buyouts to millions of federal workers. Trump is “dead-set on slashing federal outlays — and willing to tolerate any political backlash it may cause,” Axios wrote.
