'Hostage note': Trump’s funding freeze will deliver 'greatest harm' says OMB veteran
President Donald Trump’s massive freeze on what appears to be trillions of dollars of federal aid is being challenged as possibly illegal, as state and federal lawmakers, governors, and the heads of nonprofit agencies that rely on federal funds, are trying to assess the scope and ramifications of the unprecedented move.
The freeze, which was not publicly communicated by the Trump administration, but rather discovered by independent journalist Marisa Kabas, was dictated via a memo from the interim director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Matthew Vaeth in his memo to all executive branch agency heads declared the freeze was to give them time to root out “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies,” “DEI,” and “woke gender ideology.”
While the freeze was directed to begin at 5:00 PM Tuesday, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) announced late Tuesday morning, “Multiple states locked out of Medicaid portal. This is a Trump shutdown, except this time it’s unlawful.”
Topher Spiro, a former Biden White House OMB official with decades of government policy experience, suggests the real blame for Vaeth’s memo should be placed on President Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, Russell (Russ) Vought.
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Vought is Trump’s last OMB director from his first administration, and is seen as an “architect” of the Heritage Foundation’s extremist Project 2025.
“As a former associate director at OMB, I have some thoughts about this OMB memo,” writes Spiro.
“I have no doubt that OMB lawyers would believe this is illegal,” he declares. “I know Matt Vaeth. This memo reads like a hostage note written directly by Russ Vought, who is not confirmed.”
“This is cruel,” he continues. “A sampling of funding potentially affected in health care: -all opioid prevention funding -all mental health funding -funding for community health centers -suicide prevention, and the suicide lifeline -HIV/AIDS treatment -grants to states to address avian flu,” Spiro explains.
“In sum, Russ Vought is illegally carrying out his ideological agenda with greatest harm to the most vulnerable–including many in the working class and rural communities who voted for Trump. A massive fraud,” he concludes.
Others are also pointing to Vought — who had an extraordinarily contentious Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month — as the architect of the massive Trump funding freeze.
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“Russ Vought devised these illegal holds on funding for disaster relief, medical research, student aid, child care, and nutrition, as well as purges of the federal workforce. If confirmed as OMB Director he’ll keep this up for four years. The Senate should reject his nomination,” declared U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, (D-VA).
Senate Democrats appear to be in agreement, and have called for Vought’s confirmation to be held up until the funding freeze is lifted.
“Senate Democrats said the move is ‘a brazen and illegal’ attempt to halt federal funding that Congress passed into law and they will try to stop it,” The Washington Times reports. “Senate Democrats want to pause Russell Vought’s nomination for Office of Management and Budget director until the Trump administration resumes distribution of federal financial assistance, but Republicans don’t plan to oblige.”
In a November op-ed at The Hill, author, legal analyst, and former federal prosecutor James Zirin called Vought, “just the man to implement Trump’s autocratic vision.”
