The White House backed on Wednesday in a directive that had ordered the federal agencies Pausar subsidies and federal loans in the middle of a series of executive orders of President Donald Trump.
The Office of Administration and Budget (OMB) had issued A memo on Monday in which he instructed all federal agencies that, “to the extent that the applicable law allows it, (…) temporarily pause all activities related to the obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” that could go into conflict with recent Trump executive orders.
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The memorandum specified that the financing of programs “included, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, non -governmental organizations, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), WOKE gender ideology and the Green New Deal” would be paused.
However, on Wednesday the OMB retracted from the directive. Various media They reported that the office had “revoked” the memorandum without commenting.
This apparent posture change added another layer of uncertainty to a week already chaotic in Washington. On Tuesday, the Federal District Judge Loren Alikhan temporarily blocked the order just a few minutes before it entered into force, with a suspension scheduled until Monday.
On Wednesday afternoon, the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said in X that the retraction of the OMB “was not a revocation of the freezing of federal funds.”
“It is simply a revocation of the OMB memorandum,” he wrote. “Why? To eliminate any confusion created by the court order.”
“The president’s executive orders on federal financing are still in vigor and will be strictly implemented,” he added.
Alikhan’s court order against the break in financing occurred after several non -profit states and organizations filed demands against the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the president and executive director of Catholic Charities USA, Kerry Alys Robinson, published a statement in which she opposed the proposed suspension of federal financial assistance.
“For more than a century, the Catholic Charities network has worked with the government to serve the poor and vulnerable in each US community, and we are still willing to collaborate with the government to take care of our needy neighbors,” , Robinson declared. “We strongly urge the administration to reconsider this decision.”
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.
Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne is a senior editor of Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.