Trump blames media for federal funding freeze chaos and reveals move has already uncovered millions in waste
- A judge had put a temporary halt on the order
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President Donald Trump rescinded his order freezing trillions of dollars in federal grants as he revealed millions in waste had been uncovered in a crackdown on woke government projects.
Trump officials had argued funding should be put on hold while they ensured all government spending is in line with executive orders the president signed last week abolishing the Biden administration's DEI agenda.
But the order, issued on Tuesday, led to confusion including Medicaid portals being temporarily shut down, and aid groups warned lives were in danger as critical funding for vaccines and other health issues was frozen.
Trump said: 'I'm restating right now, to correct any confusion that the media has purposely and somehow, for whatever reason, created - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have not been affected by any action we're taking in any way, shape or form.
'We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse.'
He added: 'In that process, we identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas - $50 million, and you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs. How about that?'
President Donald Trump rescinded his order freezing federal funds
Twenty-two states and Washington, D.C., sued over the original order and a district judge put a halt on it late Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, sent a new order to government officials stating that the first one had been 'rescinded.'
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said federal grants were still under review.
Leavitt said: 'In light of the injunction, OMB has rescinded the memo to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage.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.'
She added: '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.'
The first order had told federal agencies to 'temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.'
It paused federal grants, loans and other financial assistance which could have totaled trillions of dollars in funding.
On Tuesday, Leavitt had attempted to clear up questions about how the funding freeze would work, and who was affected.
'This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration,' she said.
Trump officials argued critical funding pipelines like Medicare, Social Security and veterans' care would not be affected.
They also said it was a temporary measure as funding streams were reviewed.
But after several states reported the Medicaid portal was down, the OMB on Tuesday afternoon stated that 'mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) will continue without pause.'
The original order wanted officials to review more than 2,000 programs and required federal agencies to document whether each program has any funding related to undocumented immigrants, climate policy, diversity programs or abortion.
The agencies were required to provide their responses to the OMB in less than two weeks.
Democrats blasted the spending freeze on Capitol Hill on Tuesday before a judge temporarily halted it
Democrats and even some Republicans criticized the move. Republicans said the White House needed to better explain what was affected.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut – two top Democrats in Congress – wrote to the White House, outlining their 'extreme alarm' with the idea of a broad pause in grants.
'The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country,' the lawmakers wrote.
'We write today to urge you in the strongest possible terms to uphold the law and the Constitution and ensure all federal resources are delivered in accordance with the law.'
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman, added: 'This is Trump’s first major loss. When we fight, we win.'
