The White House has reversed a sweeping memorandum that had called for a freeze on several federal payments, following a judge’s decision to suspend the order on Tuesday evening.
“OMB Memorandum M-25-13 is rescinded,” stated a brief memo addressed to departments and agencies from acting White House budget director Matthew Vaeth, as first reported by NBC News.
The original memorandum had directed agencies to “temporarily pause, to the extent permitted by law, grant, loan or federal financial assistance programs that are implicated by the President’s Executive Orders,” as outlined by the Office of Management and Budget.
The directive led to widespread confusion about which specific programs were affected, prompting the White House to issue a clarification that essential programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, were not part of the freeze.
{Matzav.com}
