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.
Senator Chuck Shumer (D-New York), the minority leader in the U.S. Senate, immediately said that the memo violates U.S. law.
“Congress approved these investments and they are not optional, they are the law,” Schumer wrote in a post on X. “These grants help communities in red states and blue states and support families, help parents raise kids, and lead to stronger communities.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also condemned the memo and said the U.S. Constitution does not grant the U.S. president the authority to stop funding.
“In Illinois, we will stand against unlawful actions that would harm millions of working families, children, and seniors,” Pritzker wrote on X.
Per the U.S. Constitution, the “power of the purse” is typically given to the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1930s that Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution gives congress authority for funding federal programs. A federal law enacted in 1974 further codified that authority, requiring the U.S. president to spend the money that was allocated through the budgetary process.
The wording of the memo included exceptions for “assistance received directly by individuals,” as well as Medicare and Social Security benefits. The memo also includes a clause requiring agencies managing federal financial assistance programs to, where “permissible by law,” cancel awards already delivered that are “in conflict with administration priorities.”
However, the programs it does impact remain unclear – especially in light of it listing the green new deal, a set of policies that has been proposed but, per the New York Times, never enacted into law.
Also left unclear by the memo is what effect the pause will have on SNAP and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The WIC program provides food to more than six million women, infants, and children at risk of not getting enough nutritious food – and the USDA recently updated guidelines for the program to include more seafood.
The SNAP program is even larger, as 41 million Americans receive benefits that in total account for 24 percent of total consumer product spending. A Numerator report in 2023, “Helping SNAP Consumers During Economic Headwinds” found SNAP beneficiaries also spent USD 18.00 (EUR 17.25) more per grocery trip when utilizing the program on average.
At the Trump administration’s first press conference, the New York Times reported Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered some clarity, claiming the grant freeze would not apply to programs going to individuals, and specifically named Social Security, Medicare, welfare, and food stamps as programs that would continue. Leavitt later said that they would “check back on” whether Medicaid payments to individuals could be cut off.
U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost (D-Florida) reported multiple agencies had already been cut off from federal money, including agencies dealing with housing and public services.
The pause in funding also includes programs for the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA. Through NOAA and other agencies, the U.S. government has granted funding for programs like salmon hatcheries, and issues disaster funding for struggling fisheries. The federal government issued USD 42 million (EUR 40 million) in financial relief for fishery disasters in January 2024, and more recently NOAA announced in September 2024 it would provide USD 277 million (EUR 265 million) in financial relief in response to several fishery disasters.
The National Fisheries Institute confirmed to SeafoodSource that it has not been directly affected by the memo, as it does not receive any federal funding.
