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30-01-2025
WASHINGTON: A US judge temporarily blocks a sweeping White House order to pause federal grants, loans and other financial assistance from taking effect.
In her first-ever briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s plan to pause trillions of dollars in US government funding is about being “good stewards of tax dollars”, which she said the president was elected to do.
The judge’s ruling came as it was set to come into force on Tuesday, and as confusion spread over which programs would be impacted.
Democratic minority leader of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, earlier said the move would cause missed payrolls and rent payments, and cause “chaos”.
The White House on Tuesday held its first press briefing of Donald Trump’s second administration, with spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt telling reporters she promises to tell them truth and asking the same of them.
She answered questions about what has been a busy day in Washington DC. Here’s what you may have missed:
Leavitt’s first news briefing included her declaration that mysterious drones over New Jersey were “not the enemy” and an invitation to podcasters, TikTokers and social media influencers to apply for journalists credentials at the White House
“The president is the best spokesperson that this White House has,” she said, pointing to how often Trump has spoken to the press in his past week, saying that Biden spoke to reporters much less frequently.
The administration continued its efforts to overhaul federal government policies, including plans laid out in a leaked memo that would pause federal grants, loans and other financial assistance programs, triggering confusion and worry about organizations that rely on federal tax dollars.
That order was blocked by a judge until at least Monday, as the court considers the arguments from the Trump administration and a group representing non-profit organizations affected by the rule change.
Some critics had worried the funding freeze could affect food stamps, the Medicare and Medicaid insurance systems, early childhood education programs, farm subsidies, foreign aid, Social Security pension payments, student loans and hundreds of other projects but reports of a separate leaked memo seemed to clarify that programs such as food stamps and Medicaid would not be affected, while the Pentagon and student loan authorities said their funding was continuing as normal.
Some platforms related to federally funded programs did end up offline however, though the White House said it was “aware” of those issues and that the websites would be back up “shortly”.
In a separate development, an offer to resign has been sent to federal employees, in an effort to majorly reduce the government workforce.
Trump also signed an executive order that aims to limit gender care for transgender minors.
White House defends freezing funds as ‘reasonable’ while Democrats express ‘extreme alarm’.
It’s not surprising that the executive orders Donald Trump has signed in his first days in office are being challenged in court, says Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago but Rogowski says he also wouldn’t be surprised if Trump and his team had anticipated such challenges, and calculated that it was worth it to try to push through these orders anyway.
“Trump promised to shake things up. He is certainly delivering on that promise,” Rogowski said. (Int’l News Desk)
