The White House budget office rescinded its order freezing all federal grants and loans on Wednesday, less than two days after sparking confusion over funding for financial aid and research.
The now-rescinded order, released Monday night by the Office of Management and Budget, called on federal agencies to identify and review federal assistance programs to ensure they were consistent with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and actions. The memo raised alarms as to how it could affect public health, government research and education programs until a federal judge temporarily blocked the directive Tuesday night.
Students on social media expressed concerns Tuesday that federal financial aid would be caught up in the order, targeting “financial aid for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” However, the order contained an exception for programs delivering direct benefits to individuals, which the office later clarified applied to student loans.
Also caught up in Tuesday’s confusion were researchers working on federally funded projects. In an email to faculty and affected academic staff, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz told researchers to continue their work unless told differently by their government liaisons or MSU’s Governmental Relations office.
The university’s sponsored programs office has also created a web page to track financial and administrative impacts on federally funded programs caused by the new policies.
Guskiewicz criticized the funding pause as disruptive to the university’s work in a campus-wide email Wednesday afternoon.
”Although blocked by a federal court and now reportedly rescinded by the administration, such a freeze would significantly disrupt our research and innovation work,” the email states. "Governmental agency funding is a major component of the nation’s medical, energy and other vital research.”
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