White House withdraws Trump's spending freeze

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The White House budget office Wednesday rescinded a Monday night directive that halted trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans.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."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

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."