Donald Trump unilaterally threatened federal agencies, and now the American people are fighting back.
The Trump administration recently issued an executive order that put a freeze on trillions of dollars worth of federal grants and loans. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the decision was made in order to root out “wokeness and transgenderism” across the federal government. The decision was met with confusion and panic from the funds’ recipients, including schools, hospitals and nonprofits.
Democratic lawmakers sounded the alarm, with Rep. Sean Casten calling the freeze a “five alarm f-ing fire.”
Casten called upon his fellow lawmakers and his constituents to “stand up” against Trump, saying that the American people had “no other option” in the face of the funding freeze. The American people stood. Sen. Angus King characterized the funding freeze as “the most direct assault on the authority of Congress” in the history of the United States. Sen. Chris Murphy quite literally called “bullshit.”
Meanwhile, users on X called Trump a “dictator” and a “thin skinned bully”
The memo was criticized over its vague and misleading language, language that caused panic in housing organizations, healthcare institutions, and Medicaid recipients in red and blue states alike. Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said that multiple members of her system were unable to access federal funds due to the freeze, adding that “vulnerable people” that her organization services could be put in jeopardy.
Johns Hopkins Center scholar Dr. Erin Sorrell said that the freeze had “potentially life-threatening impacts” as it appeared to put government funded medical trials on pause. Meanwhile, online Medicaid portals across the country were completely shut down, making it seem that Medicaid payments were put entirely on pause. In response to the Medicaid portal shutdown, Karoline Leavitt posted that “no payments” were affected by the outage.
Like Sen. Chris Murphy, average Americans joined in on the “bullshit” call.
Backlash is an understatement. In response to the widespread panic and condemnation caused by the executive order, the director for the Office of Management and Budget Matthew J. Vaeth told government agencies that the freezing memo had been “rescinded.” Karoline Leavitt attempted to argue the contrary on social media, writing “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze,” which she claims will “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
Democratic lawmakers stuck it to the Trump administration regardless. In protest of the funding freeze, over twenty Senate Democrats refused to confirm Trump’s transportation secretary pick Sean Duffy to his cabinet. Though Duffy, unlike some of Trump’s other picks, is a relatively uncontroversial choice, Democrats contested his confirmation due to the freeze. In a statement to the press, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said that while she was initially ” ready to confirm” Duffy, she retracted her support due to “the chaos President Trump has unleashed with his order to pause critical federal funding to Nevada.” Illinois state Senator Tammy Duckworth joined in Masto’s protest, saying that would not vote to confirm Trump’s choice of Transportation Secretary due to the federal funding for transportation being “unlawfully withheld.”
In the wake of the freezing memo’s retraction, some Democratic lawmakers celebrated, with Sen. Patty Murray calling it a “victory for the American people.” Other lawmakers weren’t so sure, with Sen. John Kennedy saying that while the memo was rescinded, the Trump administration “didn’t rescind the intention.” While the Trump administration may have briefly handed Democrats a victory, lawmakers should keep an extinguisher on hand—more “five alarm fires” are likely to follow.
Published: Jan 30, 2025 12:36 am