‘This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs,’ the White House press secretary said.
The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) pause on federal grants, loans, and assistance will not affect Social Security, Medicare, or food stamps, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Jan. 28.
Leavitt clarified OMB’s Monday memorandum, which suspends distributing grants, loans, and other financial assistance while the affected programs are under review, during the second Trump administration’s first White House press briefing Tuesday afternoon.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs,” she said. The pause will not affect social assistance benefits like Medicare and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.
“If you are receiving individual assistance from the federal government, you will still continue to receive that,” Leavitt said. “The reason for this [pause is] to ensure that every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions that this president has taken.”
She said that the pause was directed at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and “Green New Deal social engineering policies.”
The pause will be temporary while OMB reviews the affected programs’ funding and whether they are “necessary and in line with the president’s agenda,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said later in the briefing that she would provide a list of which programs were affected and how much funding had been frozen.
Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that OMB had circulated a question-and-answer document that confirms “mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.”
Despite OMB’s statement, several state Medicaid programs reported on Tuesday that they had lost access to federal portals one day after the aid freeze announcement.
Several Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), reported the loss of access.
“My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze,” Wyden wrote in a post on social media platform X.
Leavitt said during Tuesday’s briefing that the pause will not affect Medicaid.
By Jacob Burg
