The federal funding pause is causing concern among individuals about the potential loss of essential benefits. However, the memorandum clarifies that programs providing direct benefits to Americans are explicitly excluded from the pause and not subject to this review process.

The following programs will continue without interruption:

- SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

- Student loans

- Social Security

- Medicare

- Funding for small businesses

- Support for farmers

- Pell Grants

- Head Start

- Rental assistance

- Other similar programs

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Q&A regarding the memorandum below, sourced from Briefings & Statements – The White House on the federal funding pause, provides further details regarding its implications.

Office of Management and Budget Q&A Regarding Memorandum M-25-13 (Federal Funding Pause)

January 28, 2025

In implementing President Trump's Executive Orders, the Office of Management and Budget issued guidance requesting that agencies temporarily pause, to the extent permitted by law, grant, loan or federal financial assistance programs that are implicated by the President's Executive Orders.

Any program not implicated by the President's Executive Orders is not subject to the pause. The Executive Orders listed in the guidance are:

Protecting the American People Against Invasion

Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid

Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements

Unleashing American Energy

Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing

Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government

Enforcing the Hyde Amendment

Any program that provides direct benefits to individuals is not subject to the pause.

The guidance establishes a process for agencies to work with OMB to determine quickly whether any program is inconsistent with the President's Executive Orders. A pause could be as short as a day. In fact, OMB has worked with agencies and has already approved many programs to continue even before the pause has gone into effect.

Any payment required by law to be paid will be paid without interruption or delay.

Q: Is this a freeze on all Federal financial assistance?

A: No, the pause does not apply across the board. It is expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President's Executive Orders, such as ending DEI, the Green New Deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest.

Q: Is this a freeze on benefits to Americans like SNAP or student loans?

A: No, any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause. Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused. If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the President's Executive Orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments.

Q: Is the pause of federal financial assistance an impoundment?

A: No, it is not an impoundment under the Impoundment Control Act. It is a temporary pause to give agencies time to ensure that financial assistance conforms to the policies set out in the President's Executive Orders to the extent permitted by law. Temporary pauses are a necessary part of program implementation that have been ordered by past presidents to ensure that programs are being executed and funds spent in accordance with a new President's policies and do not constitute impoundments.

Q: Why was this pause necessary?

A: To act as faithful stewards of taxpayer money, new administrations must review federal programs to ensure that they are being executed in accordance with the law and the new President's policies.

Governor Mike Braun shared the following statement regarding President Trump's pause on government spending:

"I applaud President Trump's direction to pause government spending, fulfilling his campaign promise to rein in out-of-control government. This level of fiscal discipline is exactly the kind of leadership we need in Washington, DC, and is in line with the values of Hoosiers and the American people who elected him. We are releasing guidance to Indiana's government agencies for compliance and next steps. I am confident we will continue to deliver needed services to Hoosiers with efficiency, doing more with less."

Federal Judge, Loren L. AliKhan, has temporarily blocked the federal funding pause on Jan. 28.