The following report reflects conditions as of the afternoon of Jan. 28, 2025. The following day, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration reportedly rescinded the order to freeze federal grant spending that's outlined below. The Associated Press cited two anonymous sources "familiar with the matter," and other news outlets attributed the development to a memo provided to them. Snopes has not independently verified those sources.
On Jan. 28, 2025, social media users began spreading claims that a new directive from U.S. President Donald Trump pausing federal spending may affect multiple aid programs.
(X user @AnnieForTruth)
It is true that Trump's administration ordered a pause on federal grants and loans starting at 5 p.m. EST Jan. 28, 2025, according to a leaked Jan. 27 memo reported on by reputable news outlets and independently verified by Snopes t
The memo's footnotes say it would not affect Medicare, Social Security or "assistance provided directly to individuals," thus presumably sparing food stamps, cash assistance and similar programs. However, the language did not spare child care programs and student financial aid, as that funding goes directly to schools, not students. The directive would also affect nonprofit organizations that provide food, housing, health care and other social supports and receive funding from the federal government.
States Newsroom, a nonprofit publication, released a document purportedly showing the list of programs that the Office of Management and Budget wants more details on to support its work on the original financial spending freeze memo. Snopes was not able to independently verify this document, but several reputable news outlets, including NBC News, also reported on it. It appeared to include programs the memo said were exempt from the funding freeze.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Jan. 28 news briefing that the memo ordered a "temporary pause" and emphasized that "Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals would not be impacted by this pause."
Although the language of the memo suggested a pause on all federal financial assistance, a Q&A document from the OMB shared by reputable news outlets said the pause "does not apply across the board" and was explicitly focused on programs that may contradict Trump's executive orders. It emphasized that the pause would not affect
However, Democratic lawmakers and nonprofit organizations reported that supposedly exempted programs were still being affected by Trump's announcement. Neither the memo, Leavitt nor the additional documents from OMB included a timeline for this pause. We reached out to OMB and will update the story if we hear
Breaking Down the Memo
The memo, sent Jan. 27, 2025 by Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, requires federal agencies to "identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President's policies and requirements." It goes on to detail a list of Trump's executive orders related to funding — including ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, withdrawing foreign aid and pulling back on environmental agreements — and said that in order to implement these executive orders, each agency must pause "all Federal financial assistance."
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.
In the memo's footnotes, it defines federal assistance as this:
For the purposes of this memorandum, Federal financial assistance includes: (i) all forms of assistance listed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of the definition of this term at 2 CFR 200.1; and (ii) assistance received or administered by recipients or subrecipients of any type except for assistance received directly by individuals.
"2 CFR 200.1" refers to the Code of Federal Regulations and its list of definitions. The most recent version of this document available online defines federal financial assistance as aid received by non-federal groups as grants, cooperative agreements, non-cash contributions or donations of property, direct appropriations (cash), food commodities and "other financial assistance." It also defines federal financial assistance as aid received by non-federal groups as loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies and
The exemption for "assistance received directly by individuals" should, in theory, mean that food and cash assistance programs are excluded from the freeze. Another footnote specifically said that "nothing in this memo should be construed to impact Medicare or Social Security." It does not mention Medicaid or any other specific programs.
Here is the memo, M-25-13, in full:
A 52-page document from OMB released by States Newsroom titled "Instructions for Federal Financial Assistance Program Analysis in Support of M-25-13" lists more than 2,000 federal programs that the office wants more details on. The document does not state whether this is a list of programs that should expect a pause.
This support document does not appear to include
What Trump's Administration Has Said and Responses
During the first news conference of Trump's administration with Leavitt on Jan. 28, reporters repeatedly asked her to clarify what the memo affected, and she repeatedly responded that people who receive direct assistance from the federal government will not be affected. She did not address programs that benefit Americans but aren't in the form of direct assistance. Here's one such exchange:
Reporter: You've made it clear you're not stopping funds that go directly to individuals, but there certainly are lots of organizations that receive funding and then may pass along a benefit, Meals on Wheels for one — they provide meals for over 2.2 million seniors. What is the president's message to Americans out there, many of whom supported him and voted for him, who are concerned that this is going to impact them directly, even if, as you said, the funding isn't coming directly to their—
Leavitt: I have now been asked and answered this question four times. To individuals at home who receive direct assistance from the federal government, you will not be impacted by this federal freeze.
Leavitt also gave a list of programs not affected by the pause. She said the Trump administration issued the pause "because he is being a good steward of your taxpayer dollars."
Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause, and I want to make that very clear to any Americans who are watching at home, who may be a little bit confused about some of the media reporting on this administration, if you are receiving individual assistance from the federal government, you will still continue to receive that.
When asked about Medicaid, Leavitt said she would get back to the reporter. She also referenced a Q&A from OMB sent to Capitol Hill staffers and officials. That Q&A is being reported on by reputable news outlets and shared on X by reputable journalists, although Snopes could not independently verify the document as of this writing.
According to the document being shared, Medicaid and SNAP, the federal food assistance program, will not be affected. Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start — an early-childhood support program — rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused. The document also said that "any program not implicated by the President's Executive Orders is not subject to the pause," such as "ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest."
But some Democratic lawmakers said that federal programs the Trump administration promised wouldn't be affected by the freeze still were, even before it was originally supposed to go into effect. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said on X that his staff confirmed that Medicaid portals in all 50 states were down following the freeze; other Democratic lawmakers reported similar news or said their states' Medicaid portals were shut down. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that in his state, the Head Start reimbursement program system was shut down. The National Head Start Association also said in a news release that the OMB memo "created panic among Head Start grant recipients who are currently not able to draw down any funds"; U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., posted a screenshot on X of the shut-down Head Start portal.
While Leavitt did not respond to a shouted question about whether Medicaid portals were down in all 50 states during her news conference, she said on X after the briefing that the White House was aware of the Medicaid website portal outage and was working on a fix.
Some organizations that may be affected by this memo — such as Meals on Wheels, which provides meal deliveries to homebound seniors — also were reporting that they did not yet know whether the memo freezes their funding and are asking OMB for more clarity.
In short, the original memo contradicted statements made by the Trump administration after it was leaked, and despite the White House's assurances to the contrary, there is credible evidence that the memo affected programs like Medicaid and Head Start. Thus, it's impossible for Snopes to say what exactly may be affected should the directive go into effect.
We previously looked into a rumor that Trump had signed an executive order ending food stamps and cash assistance.