The Trump regime’s federal funding freeze, which affected billions of dollars in grants and loans, was published without being vetted by the White House. The order was drafted by the Office of Management and Budget’s general counsel, Mark Paoletta (who is Ginny Thomas‘ attorney), and was released without being shown to the White House staff secretary or the President’s top policy adviser. As you might guess, disorder and public opposition came next.

The certainly illegal order was intended to make sure that federal programs aligned with Trump’s policy priorities (which are destroying the American democracy), but did not provide detail on the scope and scale of the pause, or a list of interrupted services.

The White House issued a Q&A on the freeze, saying it did not “apply across the board” to all federal assistance and was not supposed to affect programs like food stamps, Social Security, and Medicaid. There was no concrete evidence then, or as of this writing, those programs are unaffected. However, the directive did interrupt the Medicaid system, causing states to be locked out of systems that pay out federal grants.

Social media was awash with postings, pleas, and videos from people quite literally freaking out at the prospect of not being able to make rent or having no money for food. For example, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is hugely important for keeping people alive, and healthy. A single person with no income receives about $200 per month for food, and there are various tiers of benefits for families with different income levels. The program costs about $120 billion per year and covers 40 million people. This amount represents only 1.8% of the entire yearly U.S. federal budget.

The original memo (pdf) sent to all agencies spells out clearly the president’s goal is to withdraw already promised Congressional funding for programs he personally doesn’t like. This is clearly illegal. The Impoundment Act forces the president to spend the money for the purposes Congress has authorized. Congress decides how much to spend, and where to spend, then the president is responsible for executing Congress’ plan. Despite the clear rules, the Trump regime has identified hundreds of federal programs that will receive “additional scrutiny” under his executive orders.

The American president cannot unilaterally decide one government program or another isn’t worthy of funding – after Congress has allocated money. Trump’s current OMB lead council disagrees and wrote this Trump fan fiction piece. MAGA has a raging hard on for Article II presidential power. They want a king, or a modern dictatorial federal state so bad they’re drooling for it. Legitimizing the repression of non-White people is the goal of all the MAGA goons cosplaying as Constitutional scholars.

The President’s Constitutional Power of Impoundment | The Center for Renewing America

Since the Founding, it has been understood that Article II vests the President with authority to decline to spend the full amount of an appropriated fund.

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There is a legal challenge pending against the spending freeze. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan ordered the Trump regime to set aside the pause and continue all programs as Congress had intended. A hearing on the lawsuit against Trump is planned for February 3rd. The suit not only claims Trump has violated the Impoundment Act, but it also challenges the focus of the spending cuts – marginalized groups. The government cannot make a judgement call on what group of people should be covered by Congressional spending after the award. Congress is allowed to appropriate funds for groups, but not at the expense of other groups.