from Hacker News

White House rescinds federal aid freeze

by ao98 on 1/29/25, 6:57 PM with 34 comments

  • by johnnyanmac on 1/29/25, 7:24 PM

    >Though White House aides publicly blamed the media for causing the confusion, arguing that none existed within the building, the administration had received a flood of calls from lawmakers and state officials with questions about its impact on their home states.

    So trump blames the media, gets a bunch of blow back from officials, a Judge comes in to block part of it... And they choose to blame the media to upkeep their narrative when they need to backpedal.

    Gonna be a long 4 years. But at least they are getting everything through for free.

  • by basementcat on 1/29/25, 7:03 PM

    NASA Watch has a copy of the "resume work" order.

    https://nasawatch.com/transition/omb-memo-about-payment-free...

    The State Department has issued the following guidance

    https://www.state.gov/emergency-humanitarian-waiver-to-forei...

    However, someone in charge is interpreting programs like PEPFAR as not "life saving" so all data systems needed by medical personnel and researchers are still down.

    https://data.pepfar.gov/

    https://www.datim.org/

  • by legitster on 1/29/25, 7:28 PM

    I'm not against the idea of cutting the government's budget, but this administration is trying to perform surgery with a sledgehammer.

    Besides, solving the real high level problems are going to be a disaster.

    There are two ways for them to cut the budget. 1: Cut programs - 2: Increase efficiency

    1. Reduce programs. The problem for them is that Red states are overwhelming subsidized by Blue states. Just cutting programs across the board is going to hurt their constituents the most. https://apnews.com/article/north-america-business-local-taxe...

    2. Reduce costs. The reason government projects are so expensive is because of their insane review and oversight requirements. And the reason they have these is because of their constant exposure to lawsuits from citizens and NGOs. Cutting costs would involve eliminating review processes and recusing planners - you would effectively need to increase the power of the federal government to make it more efficient.

    I expect the administration to come back with a smarter list and a more targeted set of grants to cancel. But this whole endeavor is going to be a massive lark for them.

  • by MontgomeryPi2 on 1/29/25, 7:15 PM

    Probably a large donor's money spigot was affected (e.g. FAFSA private loan servicers) and the WH got a call from them. Same with the plan to deport prisoners, queue the calls into the WH from private prison lobbyists in 3,2,1...

  • by feraldidactic on 1/29/25, 7:21 PM

  • by lenerdenator on 1/29/25, 7:12 PM

    There are ways to cut wasteful spending without, y'know, creating a panic.

  • by Molitor5901 on 1/29/25, 7:09 PM

    That was only a matter of time. Congressionally directed spending is supreme under Article I of the Constitution.

  • by 7128tx on 1/29/25, 7:08 PM

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren suggested alternative plans for savings:

    https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2025/01/28/warren-to-mu...

    “My recommendations would reduce spending on wasteful programs and contracts, would cut out unfair loopholes and giveaways to the wealthiest Americans, would make the government more efficient and effective.”