The White House rescinded on Wednesday its order to freeze federal aid, reversing course from earlier in the week when the administration instituted a sweeping review of federal spending that was unclear in its scope.
In a memo first reported by The Washington Post, the White House Office of Management and Budget said simply that its earlier guidance “is rescinded.” The freeze was temporarily on hold by a federal judge, who stepped in just minutes before the memo was scheduled to take effect Tuesday afternoon.
The Trump White House disputed that the memo was an about-face, but acknowledged that its original guidance had been pulled back.
“This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X. “Why? To end any confusion created by the court’s injunction. The President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
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The original OMB guidance was issued late Monday night, which caused panic in Washington and forced state agencies to grapple with the possibility of abrupt cuts to their funding because it lacked detail and made few exceptions clear. The guidance was in line with President Donald Trump’s broader promise to shrink the federal government.
The original memo explicitly stated that Medicare and Social Security benefits would not be impacted, but it left open questions about a range of other programs, like Medicaid disbursements, housing programs and disaster aid.
The new guidance comes after the White House spent Tuesday attempting to walk back the scope of the memo. Leavitt spent much of her first official press briefing trying to clarify to reporters what funds would and would not be affected, arguing that “direct” assistance would not be impacted.
The memo sparked a backlash from Democrats, who said the freeze was unconstitutional and circumvented congressional appropriations authority, while Republicans on the Hill defended it — even while the scope of the spending freeze was still unclear.
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Emily Kennard is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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