The Trump administration has announced a broad pause in federal funding, a move which throws millions in funding for programs like SNAP and disaster relief into question
A memo released by the budget office of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has placed potentially billions in federal funding in limbo – which could include funding for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and disaster relief programs which provide millions to the seafood industry.
The two-page memo, released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on 27 January, announced a “temporary pause of agency grant, loan, and other financial assistance programs” which will take effect at 5 p.m. 28 January. The exact programs the memo targets were left largely unclear, aside from a blanket pause on “relevant agency activities” that may have been implicated by Trump’s earlier executive orders, “including but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
The memo said the federal government spent more than USD 3 trillion (EUR 2.8 trillion) on financial assistance in FY 2024 – though the source of that number is unclear, as it also claimed the government spent USD 10 trillion (EUR 9.6 trillion) in FY 2024, far above the current estimate of USD 6.75 trillion (EUR 6.47 trillion). According to the memo, the pause would last until 10 February, and the OMB is pushing for each agency to submit detailed information on programs, projects, or activities “subject to this pause” before that time.
Soon after the pause was announced, a coalition of state attorneys general announced they planned to file a lawsuit attempting to block the order, the New York Times reported.
“My office will be taking imminent legal action against this administration’s unconstitutional pause on federal funding,” New York State Attorney General Letitia James wrote on X...
