The White House has ordered a pause in federal grants and loans starting Tuesday afternoon, as the administration of President Donald Trump reviews whether potentially trillions of dollars in spending aligns with his political agenda.
Matthew Vaeth, Trump’s acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, issued a two-page order late Monday saying that Washington will “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
Vaeth wrote, “The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
The pause excludes key government programs that provide monthly government pensions and health care insurance for older Americans, as well as food aid for impoverished citizens.
It was not immediately clear how much aid could be affected by the order, although the White House said the figure was $3 trillion in the fiscal year that ended last September.
Democrats accused the president of exceeding his constitutional authority by withholding money that Congress already approved to spend.
“They say this is only temporary, but no one should believe that,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Donald Trump must direct his administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers’ money should be distributed to the people. Congress approved these investments, and they are not optional; they are the law.”
Trump has long sought to curb federal spending overall as well as target funding for programs to which he objects.
Two years ago, months before he began his 2024 run for a new term in the White House in earnest, Trump vowed to upend a 1974 law that governs the process by which presidents can either delay spending approved by Congress or outright cancel it.
“When I return to the White House, I will do everything I can to challenge the Impoundment Control Act in court, and if necessary, get Congress to overturn it,” Trump said at the time. “We will overturn it.”
The Impoundment Control Act requires the executive branch to spend the money that Congress has approved.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the pause would not violate the Impoundment Control Act because the programs are merely being paused so that the White House Budget Office can review them.
The announcement creates uncertainty over federal government grants and loans to cities and states, businesses and nongovernmental groups that provide support for tens of millions of people.
The White House dictate drew immediate protests from leading opposition Democrats, who are now in the minority in both chambers of Congress, and questions about the scope of the order from some Republicans.
Trump has named billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, to head an agency that does not officially exist, the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, to search for waste in federal spending and programs that could be eliminated.
The new president has nominated Russell Vought, a longtime advocate for trimming the size and spending of the national government, to head the White House budget office, but the Senate has yet to vote on his appointment.
