Update #2: Early afternoon on January 29, the Office of Management and Budget issued a new memo rescinding the previous one. This may allow most federal funds to be disbursed for now, although next steps remain uncertain.
Update #1: On the evening of Janary 28, after this blog was published, a federal judge issued a temporary halt to implementation of the pause, through Feb. 3, pending further hearings. It is unclear at this time what impact the court order will have on the process.
Last night, the Trump Administration announced a temporary pause of agency grant, loan and other financial assistance programs. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo ordering all agency heads to pause all federal assistance programs. The order takes effect at 5pm today.
By February 10, agencies are to report all “programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated” and in the meantime, “to the extent permissible under applicable law” stop all obligations or disbursements of federal funds, including new and existing awards and “other relevant agency actions that may be implicated by the executive orders.” OMB can make exemptions, and this order does not apply to assistance provided directly to individuals.
Federal agencies are additionally ordered to withdraw previously published award solicitations and “cancel awards already awarded that are in conflict with Administrative priorities” to the extent allowed by law.
This pause should not affect most K-12 formula grant programs like Perkins in the short term, as most funding from education-related formula grants for this school year has already been distributed by the Department of Education (for example, FY 2024 Perkins funds became available to states on July 1 and October 1 of last year). Other programs that are funded on a different schedule or where more regular payments are made from the federal government could be impacted.
The memo also notes that the pause does not apply to programs providing benefits directly to individuals. While there has been mixed information throughout the day, the latest information we have makes is that Pell grants will continue to be distributed without delay, at least for now. This interpretation could change again though, as official guidance has not been released from the Department of Education.
The order has already seen several legal challenges. The timeline of when these challenges will be argued in court is not yet known.
We know this is a challenging situation for those that rely on federal funding. There are many uncertainties, and information and interpretations have been rapidly changing throughout the day. We will continue to keep you updated on how this could impact the field as we learn more and more guidance is issued. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch ([email protected]).
In the meantime, the best way to address any funding pause you or your institutions may be experiencing is to contact your Members of Congress with specific examples and ask them to intervene.
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