AUSTIN, Texas — The Trump administration announced a freeze on federal grants and loans on Monday night, causing panic and confusion across the country.
By midday Tuesday, a federal judge imposed a temporary block until a hearing next week.
“The reason for this 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,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
In her first appearance, Leavitt explained federal assistance for individuals like social security, Medicare and food stamps wouldn’t be impacted. She did say the administration is aiming to stop funding diversity, equity and inclusion programs, climate and energy programs, and sexuality-related programs.
“It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs,” said Leavitt. “It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness.”
Interim Chief Executive Officer of Equality Texas Brad Pritchett worries this move will take away housing and access to life-saving medication for the LGBTQ-plus community.
“We utilize a lot of those programs to get access to things like HIV medication, to get access to things like prep, and a variety of other health care services,” said Pritchett. “LGBTQ community centers across the country rely on funding to provide support for queer folks.”
The World Health Organization backed that sentiment, releasing a memo expressing concern for HIV programs worldwide.
University of Texas government professor James Galbraith said it’s normal for presidents to review the policies of their predecessors, but to completely stall the ongoing functions of the government as enacted by Congress and signed into law is unprecedented.
Galbraith said the confusion behind the memo may have been intentional.
“I’ve read reports that the potential possible intent is to provoke, of course, court challenges, which might then if the Supreme Court validated a sweeping freeze, give the president essentially unlimited authority and relegate the congress to the sidelines – in other words, really transforming the constitutional structure of our government,” said Galbraith.
Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax released the following statement:
“We are aware of the memo from the federal Office of Management and Budget and are currently assessing its impact. We are compiling a total amount of grant funding for all City of Austin programs that could be affected.”