White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze

President Donald Trump displays one of the executive orders after signing at the Oval Office. [AFP] US President Donald Trump's bid to freeze trillions of dollars in federal funding was thrown into confusion Wednesday when the White House appeared to withdraw the controversial plan -- then minutes later insisted that it had not. Rafts of government aid programs and the health care system for millions of low-income Americans were up in the air after Trump ordered a halt to potentially trillions of dollars in grants, loans and other aid late Monday. The move -- made in an order from White House's Office of Management and Budget -- sparked instant alarm and confusion, as well as a flurry of lawsuits before a judge issued a temporary injunction. On Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget issued a terse notification saying the freezing of aid order had been "rescinded." However, soon after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the spending freezes remained in place -- and only the memo from the budget office was rescinded. "This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze" which remains in "full force," she said on X. The White House has strongly defended the freeze as a blow against what Trump says is waste and "woke" federal spending programs, and a tool to make sure that every government office supports the Republican's right-wing political goals. Democrats accuse Trump of constitutional overreach by seeking to stop spending already approved by Congress, which has authority over the US budget. Vocal Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett pounced on the new bout of confusion, posting: "Incompetence on full display... It's day 9 for a fool who had the job for 4 years and still has NO CLUE of how government, the law, nor the constitution works." White House on defense Trump was due to sign the Laken Riley Act, a bill cracking down on migrant criminal suspects. It is his first piece of legislation since he returned to power vowing a blitz on illegal immigration. But Trump's victory lap risks being overshadowed by the confusion on his high-profile spending freeze. In her first press briefing on Tuesday, Leavitt had denied that the freeze had caused any "uncertainty" and defended it as part of Trump's bid to make the government "good stewards of taxpayer dollars." Trump unveiled another radical move on Tuesday, offering most federal workers the option to leave their jobs in exchange for eight months severance, plunging the lives of US civil servants into disarray. Leavitt had earlier Wednesday denied accusations of a purge of Trump's opponents over the severance plan. "Absolutely false. This is a suggestion to federal workers that they have to return to work," she told reporters, referring to Trump's bid to make all federal employees return to full-time office work. "If they don't then they have the option to resign and this administration is very generously offering to pay them for eight months." Focus on immigration The Laken Riley act -- which orders the pre-trial detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft and violent crimes -- is named for a 22-year-old student murdered by a Venezuelan man who was wanted for shoplifting. Trump repeatedly spotlighted Riley's case during his election campaign as he railed against undocumented migrants, blaming them for "poisoning the blood" of the country. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan with no papers, was convicted of murdering the nursing student in 2024 after she went missing on her morning run near the University of Georgia in Athens. Ibarra had been arrested and released twice before, including when he crossed the Mexican border in 2022. Trump has launched what his second administration is casting as a major crackdown on illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids and arrests and deportations on military aircraft. His administration said on Wednesday it had evoked an extension of the protected status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans that had allowed them to remain in the United States. Trump has made the issue a priority on the international stage too, threatening Colombia with sanctions and massive tariffs for turning back two planes of deportees, before Bogota backed down.

White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze

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White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze

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