Our summary is this: It's an administrative coup. Trump has ordered tens of billions (maybe up to $3 trillion) of budget halted indefinitely in a blatantly illegal move. He's claiming power to halt and potentially redirect funding that's already been authorized by Congress — a classic authoritarian move.
Here's what we know. And we're doing our best to catch up with this story, because it's moving fast.
There's a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting head of the Office of Management and Budget. (That's the same government entity who set-up the DEI "snitch" line, that's now been spammed by tens of thousands of our fellow residents.)
In typical Trump-style, the memo gets its facts wrong. It claims in FY2024 the US government spent $10 trillion (actually it was $6.8 trillion). It says money should be used for the administration's priorities — "The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve." (Again, it's very fact deficient.)
The memo says a pause will begin at 5pm on January 28th where, "Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal."
Anyone promised federal grants might have their money at risk, even states. This is Congressional directed spending and Trump is ordering people to not do it. This funding includes universities for education and research programs, nonprofits, local and tribal governments, disaster relief aid, education and transportation funding, loans to small businesses… the list is long. (It does explicitly exclude Social Security and Medicare and "assistance provided directly to individuals.")
The mainstream press hasn't caught the significance. The NY Times has the story buried. The Washington Post at least has it as their top story, but with wild understatements like "the order's legality may be contested." Smart groups like Democracy Forward are already looking for plaintiffs (if you think you might be one, please contact them).
Others see this rightly as a huge power grab: "What OMB is doing violates the constitution itself. The ICA fills in the details of how congress and the executive interact over the spending power, but finding the ICA unconstitutional and ratifying OMB’s action here would mean overthrowing the most fundamental constitutional design." Thanks to journalist Marisa Kabas who broke this story.
Rebecca Solnit has captured some of the immediate pushback from Democrats in Congress. For example:
“They say this is only temporary, but no one should believe that,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement. “Donald Trump must direct his Administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers’ money should be distributed to the people. Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law.”
So what can we do?
It's been a lot. And the shock approach of this administration is to overwhelm us with nonsense and a state of paralysis. We continue to believe the best thing is to stay grounded and keep yourself sane amidst insanity.
At this juncture, three actions we suggest that make sense to us:
1) Urge media to cover this story properly
This is not "possibly illegal" — it's "patently illegal." You can read notes on that here.
It's not "temporary" — it's "indefinite." There's no timetable for ending it.
It's not just a memo — it's an administrative coup.
2) Urge your Representatives to act like this is a big deal
If you know us, this isn't a knee-jerk action we suggest. We think this is a strategic because it's Congress that's being violated — their power is being directly undermined.
3) Continue to support ACLU and Democracy Forward
These groups have been preparing litigation for some time. Unless Trump revokes this, this will certainly make its way through the courts. Our read is even the biased courts will have trouble swallowing this — so it may end up being shut down.
Keep breathing. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again," Nelson Mandela.
Warmly,
- Choose Democracy
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