Update on Federal Funding Freeze – What It Means for Our Community

photo of Capitol
January 28, 2025
Blog Post

Updated: January 29

The Trump administration’s recent federal funding freeze represents an unconstitutional overreach, bypassing Congress’s authority to control federal spending. This move threatens critical funding that our community relies on every day.

What We Know

  • On January 27, President Trump sent a memo directing all federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance." 
    • The temporary pause was initially set to become effective at 5:00 PM, January 28, 2025. 
    • The memo directs Federal agencies to pause all activities associated with open NOFOs, issuance of new awards, disbursement of Federal funds under all open awards, and other relevant agency actions.
  • Later on Tuesday, OMB issued a follow-up memo, attempting to clean up the fallout of their prior order. 
    • The memo claims that only programs implicated by the following executive orders are paused: Protecting the American People Against Invasion; Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid; Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements; Unleashing American Energy; Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing; Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government; Enforcing the Hyde Amendment
    • The memo also claims that any program that provides direct benefits to individuals is not subject to the pause.
  • A federal judge has issued a temporary stay on the implementation of the freeze until Monday February 3 at 5:00 PM. A federal hearing is scheduled for Monday.

What Rep. Brown is Doing

  • Tuesday, Congresswoman Brown released a statement blasting Trump’s funding freeze as “reckless” and “illegal,” and pledging to fight back until “Trump reverses course and implements federal spending as intended and dictated by Congress.”
  • Wednesday, Congresswoman Brown joined Congresswoman Emilia Sykes for a virtual press conferencewith Ohio media to share information on how this freeze could harm local residents and disrupt key programs. 
  • The Administration’s memoranda are vague, and we are still seeking information as to exactly which programs, priorities, and projects could be impacted.
  • On January 27, Congresswoman Brown joined 150 of her colleagues in sending a letter to OMB demanding a list of any projects that have had IRA and Infrastructure Law funding frozen. 
  • Congresswoman Brown is working with House Democrats to develop a multi-pronged counterattack to halt this unprecedented assault on our country.

We Need Your Input

If your entity relies on federal funding, please let us know as soon as possible if funding has been delayed or you have received any correspondence from federal agencies regarding future funding. 

We will keep you updated as we learn more, and we stand ready to support you in navigating this uncertainty. 

Please share information and concerns via this online form.