Associated Press reports, early this afternoon, the president’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rescinded its January 27 directive to freeze the disbursement of grant and loan funds by federal executive agencies. An ambiguous memo announcing the action “sparked uncertainty over a crucial financial lifeline for states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington and left the White House scrambling to explain what would and wouldn’t be subject to a pause in funding.” Confusion over the intent and full effect of the freeze led a federal judge to block immediate implementation late yesterday, as Reuters and Roll Call report.
The Washington Post reports, according to a White House spokesperson, the purpose of today’s rescission was to “end any confusion” resulting from the court injunction, not to reverse Trump administration efforts to block spending — including budget allocations — it opposes. Other freezes, on foreign aid and some alternative energy funding, remain in effect.
The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) had concerns about the breadth of the freeze, reporting yesterday that the OMB directive “renewed questions about the flow of reimbursements to state and local transportation agencies for federal-aid transportation projects.”
The advocacy group Transportation for America blogs about confusion resulting from the recent Trump administration attempts to delay or stop spending. It urges state and local agencies and other stakeholders to report any impacts on their receipt of federal aid and request that future government directives state unambiguously whether transportation funding is implicated.
The New York Times posted online an annotated list of the 2,600 government programs — including many administered by USDOT — that the January 27 spending freeze directive purported to cover.