However, in a social media post on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt held firm that Trump’s executive order (EO) to pause federal spending would remain in effect.
She claimed that the Office of Budget and Management’s (OBM) memo, which was made public earlier this week, was the only subject of the most recent directive.
“This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze”, Leavitt wrote. It is merely an OMB memo rescission.
A federal court’s decision on Tuesday to temporarily halt the funding freeze came as a result of the court’s decision to take effect within hours of its intended implementation.
The funding freeze, according to nonprofits, went against the president’s constitutional authority.
The announcement on Wednesday is likely to add to the uncertainty surrounding whether programs that rely on federal funding will continue to operate in the coming weeks.
“The President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented”, Leavitt wrote on Wednesday. Trump has asserted that his executive order was intended to stop wasteful spending.
Still, Democrats touted the announcement of the memo’s cancellation as a victory. In a social media post, for instance, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the reversal was Trump’s “first major loss”.
“We may not have majorities in the House and the Senate, but we DO have the power to loudly educate and mobilize against the mass looting the Trump admin is attempting against our veterans, healthcare, education, and more”, she said.
Trump has taken a number of drastic steps in his first week in office to completely overhaul the federal government and halt funding both domestic and international aid programs.
As programs scrambled to determine whether they would be affected by the administration’s diverse messages, there became a sense of chaos.
A number of elected officials claimed their states had been evicted from funding portals for Medicaid, a government insurance program for low-income and elderly people, despite the White House’s claim that medical assistance was not included in the order.
The memo was put away just before Wednesday’s legal proceedings were to end.
22 of the country’s 22 Democrat-dominated states and the District of Columbia filed their own lawsuit late on Tuesday to stop the funding freeze in addition to the legal challenge brought by nonprofits.
Opponents in both cases have argued that Trump’s order was illegal, since responsibility for government spending falls largely to Congress, rather than the president.
Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, stated to reporters on Tuesday that the president has no authority to decide which laws to enact and for whom.
Early this week, the US temporarily frozen funds for humanitarian and health-related projects around the world. Military aid for two allies, Israel and Egypt, were exempt from the decision.
A strong backlash and a government response followed from that action.
Source: Aljazeera
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