If you wanted to give a huge advantage to foreign competition, I can't think of any better way than to halt the support of federal grants. Sure, let's just give the Chinese and Russian scientists that advantage.
It is diabolical. So much of American greatness stems from federal grant support.
How can he just stop all this money that was appropriated by Congress? He is inching closer to grabbing sole power everyday that Congress sits there and either agrees with him or doesn't fight.
Catherine!! I don't know if you will ever see this but i just learned of your existence like 4 minutes ago watching you absolutely murder Scott Jennings 😍.It feels like a breath of fresh air. Someone in the world actually speaking the truth and directly confronting the bullshit and the ..1/2
I want to hear from Republicans who voted for Trump thinking he was going to put money in their pockets. Instead, he's been taking money out of their pockets and turning their lives upside down along with everyone else. He's also gutting Federal Jobs, lots of Republicans and Veterans work there two.
Want to hear from Republicans who voted for Trump thinking he was going to put money in their pockets. Instead, he has been taking money out of their pockets and turning their lives upside down along with everyone else. He is gutting Federal Jobs, lots of Republicans and Veterans work their two.
The goal is to cause exactly what each comment on this post is feeling.
Fear
Worry
Confusion
Anger
Helplessness
Trump & co want compliance and control.They’re trying to break us.They’ll provide clearer information eventually. The shock has to do its job first. Incremental torture is the plan.
Man, this is a total shock, I tell ya! If only this administration had published their intention ahead of time and other people who read that intention tried to warn everyone else.....oh wait 🙄
Back in Nov I said the government moves slowly, and federal grants and grant pros like me would have time to adapt. I am devastated to have been so wrong. I know the language they're targeting as I used it on purpose to address the grant requirements. I feel like I failed my clients.
Yes because without SNAP people won’t be able to buy food and lack of demand for food will lower prices. Eventually enough people will die so egg prices will be $1 a dozen.
This is illegal and violates the US Constitution. The other branches of the federal government (Congress and the courts) provide checks to counter tyrannical executives in the White House such as Trump. Call/write to your representatives in Congress to call for impeachment.
Hey, the Republicans will just all go along because they’re dictator will demand it. America is being dismantled, mostly for tax cuts for billionaires.
This is referred to as “impoundment,” when the president holds back money that Congress has approved for a specific purpose. Trump and his allies - like Russ Vought - argue a president has the right or should have the right not to spend those funds. P2025, all the way.
Media and academia are racing to calculate the effects of this funding freeze. I’m betting that this move will affect a huge chunk of his electorate. The first of many wake-up calls by way of a kick in the face. He’s just getting started folks.
We’re now seeing what a “dictator” looks like, and it’s not just on “day 1”:
-unilaterally rewrite constitution (see birthright citizenship)
-summarily “nullify” regulations (see civil service rules, OPM memo dated 1/27/25)
-supersede congressional powers (see impoundment of funds)…
-normalize idea of remaining in office beyond term limit (see speech to House Rs)
-vilify and delegitimize existence of minorities (see anti-transgender orders)
-empower oligarchs (see Musk et al)
-and on and on and on…..
-fire perceived political enemies for upholding their duties to the law (see DOJ prosecutors)
-appoint unqualified cronies to lead national security agencies (see Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel, etc, etc, etc)
-cash in on elective office (see $Strump, and too many more to count)…
-decree that disfavored policies are “Marxist” (see 1/27/25 OMB memo on impoundment)
-rewrite history (see Jan 6 pardons)
-empower and validate paramilitaries (see again Jan 6 pardons, subsequent appearance with president on stage)…
-supersede judicial powers (see deportation without due process)
-threaten to invade foreign countries (see Panama, Greenland)
-purge internal watchdogs (see inspectors general)
-threaten civil servants to get them to inform on dissenters (see anti-DEI orders/memos)…
Oh Catherine - sparking CONFUSION.. how about UTTER CHAOS - MEDICAID portals in all 50 states were shut off. THIS IS NOT CONFUSION this is a dictator takeover .. FIND YOUR COURAGE woman ..
He wants this to go to the Supreme Court so they can tell him he can ignore congress. “Faithfully execute the laws of the US” apparently doesn’t apply to legislation by congress that is signed by a president.
They work to intentionally destabilize our country, so people will be desperate and protest and/or revolt, or just have their militias sabotage and create mass violence to provide pretext for martial law.
The true ethno-state Nazi's also know everything they do impacts marginalized groups more.
This is, BTW, standard Trump -- create an overbroad mandate, then make one-by-one exceptions to those who beg for them and offer suitable compensation.
WTF is wrong with this POS? Is there any endgame to this idiot or is he just spontaneously doing shit for the hell of it? Never really wanted to live in a dictatorship
It distinctly says federal assistance to agencies. Those agencies include DHHR, Housing and Urban Development and so on and without finding we don’t have rental assistance, SNAP, TANF LIHEAP WIC FAFSA Medicaid and more.
Of course. I was just reflecting on how bad this all is and commented on school lunch programs bc I used to work in that department at Texas Dept of Agriculture.
Additionally social welfare programs that receive federal assistance do not work on annual grants, but quarterly and some even monthly. Which is why whenever there is a pending Gov shut down the poor are the first to panic. A federal assistance freeze will literally demolish the poor.
There is some ambiguity about whether this “pause” means that no Medicaid or CHIP payments can go out for 2 weeks. Hearing different interpretations from different budget experts.
Hoping for some clarity on this
Black Medicaid providers, especially in the Eastern District of North Carolina & nationwide, face disproportionately high criminal charges rather than civil penalties,compared to white providers &other ethnicities, though they commit more egregious fraud. Please Share!
Speaking of Medicaid! There are going to be some real problems in the healthcare of poor people. Especially in communities of the black & brown, immigrants and whites. Especially in NC. Particularly the Eastern District. Sorry to hit your page Catherine. But help is needed in NC! Read best post
And waiting in the wings right after this is another debt ceiling crisis when Janet Yellin’s “extraordinary measures” run out. We’re back to the chaos of Dump.
Pretty sure it ends programs like these that target child trafficking and slavery in all sorts of labor categories. There are links to some of the grant programs that may be effected in the comments
Fewer and fewer medical professionals and healthcare organizations will continue to accept Medicaid and CHIP. So people, particularly children, will become sick and have no medical care available to them. And children will die. And that’s the way the party of “pro-life” rolls. 🤦🏽♀️
Don't need to wait for 100% perfect clarity on every nitnoid to begin screaming about what a totally unprecedentedly bananas, unconstitutional, autocratic power grab this is and it is a basically a coup in progress.
The memo exempts Medicare "benefits" but most Medicare payments are to physicians, hospitals, and other care facilities. Hence they're usually called "payments." There are a few examples of Medicare support for individuals (drug pricing, deductibles). Which ones are protected?
I don't know, but it appears they are using the "break it first then fix it if the right people scream at you" approach, that way they don't take time to analyze the need; so my take is it all will be 'paused.'
then the religious groups, who support this administration, will sweep in & give them a can of green beans, some rice and a box of mashed potato flakes & make them dependent on their charity
and justify their tax exempt status so they can continue to politically support these goons
"The memo states its orders should not be “construed” to impact Social Security or Medicare recipients, and also says the federal financial assistance put on hold “does not include assistance provided directly to individuals.”"
I have family relying on WIC currently, and they are confused, have not heard back from their case manager (they called today after I read this article and saw your post here).
I hate to have to ask for citation about this, but where did you see that WIC is being impacted?
So I just learned something about Head Start. Its precursor was started by Henry Kaiser to grow the work force to build the ships in WWII. Kaiser built affordable hosting, provided healthcare and childcare, including meals, so that families could work and thrive. He invested in America.
Big surprise that the guys who think women should have more babies (because they want to take their options not to) is now taking away WIC to pay to feed those babies.
The Trump administration just pulled funding from PEPFAR a life-saving AIDS-relief program that saved over 25 million lives worldwide. His aid freeze forced clinics across the globe to suspend services which experts warn will lead to an uptick in HIV-related deaths and a resurgence of the epidemic.
We know what is applies to … Anything passed by Democrats. Anything that pays 💰💰 to help non-White, non-christian, “woke” Americans. Why wasn’t this subversion of our Constitution by Heritage stopped before Frump took office?
Is there someplace that has a real list of what is impacted by a pause? Because we are where people come when they run out of food and formula and housing and we really need to know what’s coming our way…
I think the real answer is no, not yet. The memo is intentionally vague and i haven't seen any follow up guidance. Agencies are likely scrambling to understand, too.
There are unhelpful lists making the rounds that were put together by chat gpt, not based on anything real. And competent attorneys could make an in/out argument for a lot of programs.
Going to be some pissed off cadets at the Air Force Academy whose NCAA sports programs just had their funding zeroed out.
*yes, I know that’s pretty low on ranking of human suffering created by this document, but it’s the first thing that caught my eye on the random page I scrolled to.
MSNBC is reporting that dt admin has come back after news conference & claimed that Medicaid is not included in the freeze but the computer is just a coincidence BUT but they are liars so we will see.
Notice we are at end of month w/ new month for Medicaid & nursing home care just days away.
credit via url is to the handbasket, more found in your feed re history of scoop, posting delay, confirmation-then-posting, and bc is independent newsletter, subscribers encouraged to view from link. AZdl is a bit of a jewel, folks. 🎇
I think at this point a list might not be useful. This is clearly unconstitutional and I wouldn't be surprised if the coalition of states attorneys general who are fighting this have already filed or will file by midnight for a stay. And almost certainly he'll "relent" as a tactic and restore some.
Because "OMG he cut it all!" has everyone panicked so that people will be "thank goodness he only cut 50%" will make him appear "reasonable". It is DEFINITELY a tactic.
We have to see how they'll interpret it. But the memo says "received directly by individuals." If "directly" means a check from the FG to the individual, then WIC doesn't count.
Yes. It says not Medicare or individual assistance but, it’s up for interpretation because of how WIC is funded and dispersed…
I’m wondering if we’ll see a split amongst the states?
I work at a housing authority. What? Are we just not allowed to pay people's rent. We sign contracts with landlords that we'll pay the tenants' rent. Wtf?
We put our rental house on Section 8. We love our tenant. But if the rent isn't paid, we will evict her.
My Mom depends on the rental income from that house to pay her own rent of her senior Independent Living apt that costs more than 2X the rent on her house.
The rental is month to month now so I believe I can evict her. I'm going to explore our options. We can't afford to have this home occupied by a non paying tenant.
I'm no expert, just guessing, here. But unless your agency is literally a part of the Federal government, it won't work that way. Instead, you should be able to keep paying those bills...until the cut-off Federal money causes your agency to run out.
Hopefully the courts will overturn this before you get to that point. Though then we have a new worry - will Trump and/or the agencies comply with the court orders?
Exactly. All the states should sue - even the red ones. This is money that Congress said should go to the states. The president has no right to take it away from them.
I’ve gotten pretty sick of waiting around for both media outlets and Democratic leadership to call out their blatant Nazi references in their attempts to normalize their fascist intentions, and it’s nice to see someone finally call them out.
Lawsuit incoming. At some point a decent Supreme Court would swing down a consolidate all of the relevant ones (the vast majority tbh) hold a summary hearing and issue a unanimous permanent injunction against this anti-constitutional behavior. But we're in this world, so who knows.
Down here in high poverty NM, wondering about federal school nutrition reimbursements and the possibility that "federal free and reduced lunch" will be affected...
There are probably millions of jobs in red states dependent on NIH and NSF grants. Also third party vendors that sell supplies to grant recipients. How does the stock market overlook this
While I agree that the media does need to harden the fuck up and actually list the sheer number of times Trump's administration has broken the law (including violating the Constitution) since MAGA came back into power, the thing is that a) oligarchs own all these rags and b) MAGA won't care either.
That's why he got the Supreme Court to give him full immunity, he doesn't care that it's illegal, there are no repercussions, & he's King now. We live in a dictatorship, & anyone who thinks laws apply to him, LOL. We have a "President" who doesn't care about law & order or our constitution.
We are living in a fake democracy that operates under Nixon rules because oligarchs run things no. If the President (Trump, not Biden) does it, it isn’t illegal.
It's WaPo. They're on the side of the new regime. They'll sane wash this until people are starving in the streets and then they'll pivot to something else to perpetuate their sane-washing scam.
Gotta get them clicks AND keep the orange dictator happy, right?
Who will stop them now? They control it all. Lots of lower courts too. The time for that kind of thinking was 4 years ago when Dems met trump off without consequences. Now it's survival time.
All of the people saying, “But it’s illegal” don’t understand that by the time this meanders through the courts, the small local nonprofits that distribute federal funds will be dead.
They’ll vote against there own kids future, against their own skin, because they have been told that anything they have was taken from someone else, and so anything some else has must have been taken from them.
They have disdain for anyone who is poor/in need (aka the opposite of the teachings of their lord and savior jesus christ) but I'm guessing that they are ignorant about who is receiving this aid.
And a lot of these ppl vote for them.
Will there be payback next election? Dems better have messaging
WIC and Head Start are not only absolute slam dunks in terms of return on investment for the government (they save more money than they cost in the long term by far), they're also wildly popular. In addition to the legal challenges, we need to remind others few people support this. Even R voters.
In 2023, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) served about 6.6 million people each month. This includes an estimated 39% of all infants in the United States.
Do you think little Mike Johnson cares if someone can’t feed their baby? Do you really think they care if we live or die? As long as they have their billionaires and their little Nazi utopia, they don’t care what happens to anybody else.
How many rural hospitals, which are already struggling to stay open, are going to be able to send out payroll, pay utility bills, buy medical supplies?
The sooner people realize Trump doesn’t care the better. Sociopaths are incapable of caring about anyone except themselves. And he doesn’t need his voters to support him anymore.
Trump doesn’t need his voters or really Americans at all anymore. The plan is the destruction of the administrative state so that they can give tax breaks to all their country club buddies. They have literally no reason to protect anyone. He simply does not care about Americans or their needs.
Democrats should be taking notes and taking a head count of how many Republican Trump Voters and Veterans are affected by the Trump Federal cuts. Many Veterans work for the Federal Government after they return from serving their Country. Now they're scrambling to figure out what to do next.
There is so much of that...grifting and opportunism at the expense of people in their community, though, b/c they see most ppl, but esp those in need, as subhuman, they don't think of it that way
All of the people saying, “But it’s illegal” don’t understand that by the time this meanders through the courts, the small local nonprofits that distribute federal funds will be dead.
And even then, there’s no mechanism to actually stop him. Is he going to be impeached a third time? I’m sure these are official acts that are immune from persecution, right?
Where are the lawsuits? The executive branch can't legally decide not to spend money allocated by congress. Are the Ds going to do anything other than frown and tsk and mumble about bipartisanship?
When my neighbor has been telling me for 2 years that he was going to have his dog shit in my yard, wrote a book detailing exactly how the dog was going to shit in my yard, and then finally got a dog and marched it towrda my yard, yes. I do.
What are the Dems going to do ? Be realistic- we don't have the house or senate and fucking Fetterman is helping them on votes so they have that ! It's a mess- he's going to shut down the gov 100% and be the next Dictator and no more elections. Watch. I've been right on it all so far. .
And yet when Republicans were in the minority they had no problem suing the Obama Administration. A lawsuit is not passing new legislation, it's defending existing law in court.
So this is just flat out illegal, congress already allocated that money. This is it. Do we have a King or not? Didn’t expect we’d be at this showdown after a week but here we fucking are.
the main thing is, sure it's illegal, but who's going to enforce it? Does the government just ignore the executive branch's insane pronuncements from on high, or do we keep pretending the emperor is wearing clothes? I just don't see any existing backbone in the whole of the bureaucracy to resist it
Historically, this is 100% the case. It's designed to not only hurt people the fascists don't like, but create a new reason to punish them for "causing" the hard times
FAFSA is just the application, but the federal grants and loans it qualifies you for shouldn't be included in this paise because they're paid to individuals.
There's so much in that is cartoonishly evil but pausing funding for southwest forest health and wildfire prevention while California is still battling wildfires is so fucking disgusting
What a way to run our USA government! Why don't they communicate in advance what's being proposed to be paused? Oh, right, this is now the Trump dictatorship way! Screw everyone, chaos reins everywhere!
JFC. Before the inauguration there were many articles and reporting about how long these Heritage hacks worked on these EOs so they could hit the ground running. In reality many issued are poorly worded and so vague that nobody can comprehend what they actually mean.
Hopefully we get more clarity about it soon. If it’s administered by states then it might be affected. The second footnote on the first page of the memo states explicitly that it does not impact Medicare or Social Security benefits, so that may speak to your question about SSI and SSDI. =\
Context is that some benefits are not administered through the states and are direct from the federal government (like social security), and those benefits might not be affected. That’s why they mentioned the states in the comment about SNAP.
Comments
It is diabolical. So much of American greatness stems from federal grant support.
I cannot thank you enough. Seriously
In a way it works, the screams of pain let's you know who's affected.
😔
Fear
Worry
Confusion
Anger
Helplessness
Trump & co want compliance and control.They’re trying to break us.They’ll provide clearer information eventually. The shock has to do its job first. Incremental torture is the plan.
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/120-the-impoundment-crisis-of-2025
The collapse of the 4th Estate also bears responsibility for this. You're journalists, not archivists. Accountability, not stenography.
this is a criminal organization
you wanna gov contract?
ya gotta pay the vig
-unilaterally rewrite constitution (see birthright citizenship)
-summarily “nullify” regulations (see civil service rules, OPM memo dated 1/27/25)
-supersede congressional powers (see impoundment of funds)…
-vilify and delegitimize existence of minorities (see anti-transgender orders)
-empower oligarchs (see Musk et al)
-and on and on and on…..
-appoint unqualified cronies to lead national security agencies (see Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel, etc, etc, etc)
-cash in on elective office (see $Strump, and too many more to count)…
-rewrite history (see Jan 6 pardons)
-empower and validate paramilitaries (see again Jan 6 pardons, subsequent appearance with president on stage)…
-threaten to invade foreign countries (see Panama, Greenland)
-purge internal watchdogs (see inspectors general)
-threaten civil servants to get them to inform on dissenters (see anti-DEI orders/memos)…
🤦🏽♀️
The true ethno-state Nazi's also know everything they do impacts marginalized groups more.
Well, that makes it sound so mild & unthreatening. Confusion was sparked. Nothing really bad happened, just a li'l confusion.
WaPO doing their sane-washing shuffle & soft shoe again, huh.
Not surprised at all.
But it's shock, fear, and chaos not "confusion."
Quislings.
Now we're left with a gaggle of idiots with hatchets.
I (and I suspect, droves of others) are now following you after you handed Nazi-apologist Scott Jennings his ass on CNN tonight!
BRAVO!
Please this affects my mother and I please are we losing our HUD, Medicaid and SNAP?
Hoping for some clarity on this
Black Medicaid providers, especially in the Eastern District of North Carolina & nationwide, face disproportionately high criminal charges rather than civil penalties,compared to white providers &other ethnicities, though they commit more egregious fraud. Please Share!
Chaos is the point!!!
https://bsky.app/profile/uniongal.bsky.social/post/3lgrf356qns2t
If we give Democrats the majority there won’t be so much ambiguity
Pass this on
There are Special
Elections today
They do not need their idiotic MAGA "base" any more.
Is there *any* vulnerable group this poor imitation of a man and his co-conspirators haven't made miserable?
Democrats better get off their asses and start fighting.
and justify their tax exempt status so they can continue to politically support these goons
yes, that's a requirement
"The memo states its orders should not be “construed” to impact Social Security or Medicare recipients, and also says the federal financial assistance put on hold “does not include assistance provided directly to individuals.”"
source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/27/white-house-pauses-federal-grants/
I hate to have to ask for citation about this, but where did you see that WIC is being impacted?
Too many here falsely believed this OP's speculation that it even talked about WIC. It wasn't even in the memo or the article.
Nobody should've fallen into panic when this dysfunctional administration says something... check your sources <3
https://archive.is/20250128042841/https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/27/white-house-pauses-federal-grants/
they are mostly into kneecapping women's careers & keeping them dependent on poorly raised men
We are about to have so many hungry kids and desperate families.
We need the media to start really comprehending the evil they are reporting on.
See Steve Vladek.
https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/120-the-impoundment-crisis-of-2025
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000194-ad9c-de9c-a5b6-efbd29400000
*yes, I know that’s pretty low on ranking of human suffering created by this document, but it’s the first thing that caught my eye on the random page I scrolled to.
Notice we are at end of month w/ new month for Medicaid & nursing home care just days away.
Our entire 2 party political system of Government
have been moles of privatization
for decades
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trums-federal-funding-freeze-widespread-confusion-rcna189581
Also, it's time for CHURCHES to step up!
I’m wondering if we’ll see a split amongst the states?
My Mom depends on the rental income from that house to pay her own rent of her senior Independent Living apt that costs more than 2X the rent on her house.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/27/chaos-confusion-trump-u-s-foreign-aid-00200771
And godspeed.
(PS - thank you for your MNleg work)
I’ve gotten pretty sick of waiting around for both media outlets and Democratic leadership to call out their blatant Nazi references in their attempts to normalize their fascist intentions, and it’s nice to see someone finally call them out.
But that's not going to stop them so there's that.
Gotta get them clicks AND keep the orange dictator happy, right?
Yep.
They know and don't care
They know and don't care
“They’d rather burn down the entire neighborhood, including themselves, than share a house with the rest of us.”
And a lot of these ppl vote for them.
Will there be payback next election? Dems better have messaging
They also luxuriate in cruelty to the poor of any color.
We’re close to 1640s level conflict w r to parliamentary power as such
https://bsky.app/profile/stevevladeck.bsky.social/post/3lgrnu7p4k22h
But here we are
https://capitolfax.com/2025/01/28/illinois-locked-out-of-federal-funding-sites-and-disbursement-systems-including-medicaid/
"Trump has damaged the US more in one week than the Soviet Union did in 40 years."
Senator Wyden!
From this article:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/01/28/can-trump-cancel-government-funds-through-impoundment-what-to-know-as-he-pauses-all-federal-assistance/
I'm all out of fucks for them.
Trump is attempting to make himself king.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/white-house-orders-pause-of-federal-financial-assistance-programs-8362a8e0