The White House Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Matthew Vaeth on Jan. 27 instructed all federal departments and agencies to pause all obligations or disbursements for “Federal financial assistance.”
[After this story was posted on Tuesday, a federal judge on Tuesday afternoon temporarily blocked the OMB directive].
The order applies to federal:
- Grants;
- Cooperative agreements;
- Non-cash contributions or donations of property (including donated surplus property);
- Direct appropriations;
- Food commodities;
- Loans;
- Loan Guarantees;
- Interest subsidies;
- Insurance; and
- Other financial assistance.
The order includes the caveat that any such pause should only be made “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”
Additionally, the order is intended to apply to any financial assistance “implicated” by executive orders already issued by President Trump, including, but not limited to “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
As part of a review required under the order, OMB has circulated a questionnaire to be completed by federal departments and agencies about 2,600 federal “financial assistance” programs under their jurisdiction to be completed by February 7, 2025.
The questionnaire includes a spreadsheet listing programs within these agencies and departments that appears to go well beyond the scope of the programs described in the memo, including, for example, interest on the national debt and railroad safety. It also lists “programs” that are not “disbursed” including various tax credits (including energy tax credits), deductions and exclusions.
Of interest to public power, the list includes grants and other programs created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, most Department of Energy offices, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the exclusion of interest on state and local bonds, Build America Bonds, Clean Renewable Energy Bonds.
