UPDATE #2: Words like “catastrophic” and “chaos” are being used to describe this surprise order. As Nick Coltrain and Seth Klamann report for The Denver Post:
A sudden freeze on federal spending by the Trump administration — set to take effect Tuesday — sent Colorado officials scrambling as they tried to figure out the extent and impact of the decision.
Much of Colorado’s $40 billion state budget as well as its hospitals, universities, early childhood programs, research laboratories, and other agencies and groups rely on federal funding for day-to-day operations. It wasn’t immediately clear how President Donald Trump’s freeze, set to take effect at 3 p.m. Mountain time, would ripple through the state or affect residents’ access to services.
State lawmakers said they were trying to determine if the order, which came in the form of a budget memo sent to federal agencies on Monday, would apply to Medicaid, which provides health care to nearly a quarter of Coloradans. But the directive did appear to cover Pell grants, housing vouchers, and such disparate programs as Medicaid fraud prevention and gun safety services.
Regular funding for Denver Health and federally qualified health centers, which are the safety net health care providers across the state, also appeared to be in jeopardy. A spokeswoman for Denver Health said the agency was still working to understand the impacts Tuesday morning.
“I think the impact to people’s lives will be catastrophic,” Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat who sits on the legislature’s powerful Joint Budget Committee, said Tuesday morning. “It’s chaos.” [Pols emphasis]
As the Post notes later in the story:
Withholding congressionally authorized spending was a key reason for Trump’s first impeachment during his first term.
—–
UPDATE: Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse (D-Boulderish) issued a statement calling the freeze flat-out unconstitutional:
“President Trump’s OMB directive is lawless and unconstitutional — and the freeze in Federal funding that he is attempting will have dangerous impacts for millions of Americans. The order threatens funding for law enforcement grants, farmers, Head Start programs for children, and countless other services and programs that Coloradans rely upon. House Democrats will stand firm in defending American taxpayers by opposing this unconstitutional order and utilizing every legislative tool available to uphold the rule of law.”
—–
Politico reports today on a sweeping new order from Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget–so sweeping that the full implications are still being processed–and if it survives a court challenge could result in a catastrophic freeze in federal aid related to literally thousands of programs including funding for local police and emergency services, health care, education, and…insert other priorities you care very much about here:
President Donald Trump’s budget office Monday ordered a total freeze on “all federal financial assistance” that could be targeted under his previous executive orders pausing funding for a wide range of priorities — from domestic infrastructure and energy projects to diversity-related programs and foreign aid.
In a two-page memo obtained by POLITICO, the Office of Management and Budget announced all federal agencies would be forced to suspend payments — with the exception of Social Security and Medicare.
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” according to the memo, which three people authenticated.
As the Washington Post reports, even fiscal policy experts are struggling to comprehend the order’s full impact:
Experts said the memo as written was poised to bring a rapid halt to scores of federal functions, from assistance to homeless shelters to financial aid for college students. Health grants distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state aid for disaster reconstruction, might face delays. Developers expecting federal grants to expand the nation’s energy supply could be disrupted. Questions quickly emerged about whether Medicaid, the health insurance program used by more than 70 million Americans, would see a pause in payments, which are distributed from the federal government to the states…
It’s unclear precisely how much money could be affected by the order. Budget experts put the number at a minimum of tens of billions of dollars, but the White House directive suggests the impact could be even greater. The memo states that of the $10 trillion “that the Federal Government spent [in fiscal year 2024, which ended Sept. 30, 2024], more than $3 trillion was Federal financial assistance, such as grants and loans.” It was not immediately clear where those figures came from; the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the government spent $6.7 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year.
The order states that the OMB will have until February 10th to disclose just how much funding is affected by this freeze order, which should also allow time for organizations and individuals impacted to take this order to court where the order may well find itself quickly brought to a halt much like Trump’s executive order targeting “birthright citizenship.” In the meantime, both of Colorado’s U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are asking local organizations who lose funding to contact their offices:
The list of potential impacts from this funding freeze is going to be very long, and by the time we know all of the programs affected on February 10th, the disruption may well have already resulted in permanent harm in the form of missed paychecks and unpaid bills. This is the chaos that Trump promised on the campaign trail while his supporters eagerly cheered, so no one can call it a surprise. Unless the courts step in to stop this order from taking effect, the once-unthinkable consequences of the promises Trump made so casually on the campaign trail are about to hit every American like a bus.
In a twist of fate only Donald Trump could arrange, Republicans are now the ones “defunding the police.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: Early Worm
IN: Trump Blames “Diversity” For Worst Plane Crash In Years
BY: DavidThi808
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Friday Open Thread
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Friday Open Thread
BY: ParkHill
IN: Trump Blames “Diversity” For Worst Plane Crash In Years
BY: ParkHill
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: Duke Cox
IN: Hurd Breaks from GOP Colleagues in Letter Demanding Polis Repeal Immigrant-Protection Laws
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Friday Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Trump Blames “Diversity” For Worst Plane Crash In Years
BY: DavidThi808
IN: Friday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
Can someone tell me what is meant by "Marxist equity"? Is Marxist equity different than plain old equity? What is the difference?
You'd think they were talking about racial equity, but it was actually a dog whistle to private equity firms hinting they can continue to accumulate wealth and value without impediment, like an electrical circuit without resistors, whereas Marx would say "But all methods for the production of surplus-value are at the same time methods of accumulation; and every extension of accumulation becomes again a means for the development of those methods."
Or something.
Marxist Equity is code for a super secret woke boogyman uber weapon program. The woke were planning to institute it and make everyone enjoy kale and listen to NPR. This may or might not be connected with Jewish space lasers allegedly according to Elon Musk.
Props to Neguse for calling out that it's illegal and unconstitutional. We need all of the Democratic Congresspeople calling it out for this.
It’s all fun and games when you are starving children, preventing scientific research, and removing educational funding. It gets real when thousands of businesses go under, unemployment goes up, rents are not paid, and the economy goes into the tank, all to feed the vengeful ego of an idiot. Before, I thought the chaos and destruction were a byproduct of his incompetence. No, I come to realize the pain and misery are part of the plan. He wants his “enemies” to suffer.
Prof. Stephen Vladeck posted a good piece on the impoundment. https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/120-the-impoundment-crisis-of-2025?r=cffj&fbclid=IwY2xjawIGE9FleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVy4z2-HXFB7aJFYvavNTvFNeun4ecl5oUtOaIjW8Vz_vAlKOPRuc1Dorg_aem_aFZCOhCwwef-6tjUMnWGtA
I am admittedly super duper paranoid, but I think the nation needs to be seriously on guard against misappropriation of federal funds, into things like Tr*mp crypto or private ventures containing the letter x.
I feel like you are a woke propagandists… "Tr*mp crypto or private ventures containing the letter x" What do you have against nu social security or the nu education Dept?