White House withdraws Trump's spending freeze

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed 'dishonest media coverage' for the widespread confusion

(Image credit: Samuel Corum / Politico / Bloomberg via Getty Image)

What happened

The White House budget office Wednesday rescinded a Monday night directive that halted trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., had temporarily blocked the directive from taking effect Tuesday evening, after a day of bipartisan chaos in states, schools, hospitals and nonprofits. The White House said withdrawing the memo resolved that case while keeping intact President Donald Trump's executive orders to align federal spending with his social policies.

Who said what

"This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. She blamed "dishonest media coverage" for the widespread confusion and said Trump's executive orders on "spending reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented."

Still, the pullback of the budget directive was a "significant reversal" and Trump's "first major capitulation" since returning to the White House, The New York Times said. The backpedaling was "seemingly tacit acknowledgment that there may be limits to the president's shock-and-awe strategy," Politico said. The directive's "broad backlash" showed that Trump "isn't invincible in pushing through his broad agenda" and offered a warning for Republicans if they go along with his "slash-and-burn approach to governing." Most Americans "voted for cheaper eggs," said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). "They did not vote for this chaos."

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What next?

A White House official claimed "the reversal was an attempt to short-circuit legal challenges" to Trump's attempts to control federal spending, Reuters said. But U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island said Wednesday he was still "inclined" to block the White House's spending freeze, because the "inappropriate effects" of its "hugely ambiguous" directive "are going to continue" even after the recision, "based on comments by the president's press secretary."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.