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January 29, 2025 10:28 AM UTC

Evans, Boebert Accuse Democrats of "Fearmongering" Over Failed Federal Spending Freeze

  • 7 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: WaPo reports that the White House has sounded full retreat on yesterday’s chaos-inducing funding freeze, leaving Rep. Gabe Evans and other Republicans who jumped to the administration’s defense holding the bag:

The White House budget office on Wednesday rescinded an order freezing federal grants, according to a copy of a new memo obtained by The Washington Post, after the administration’s move to halt spending earlier this week provoked a backlash.

In a memo dated Wednesday and distributed to federal agencies, Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, states that OMB memorandum M-25-13 “is rescinded.” That order, issued Monday, instructed federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.”

The original White House order freezing federal grants, which became public Monday, caused mass chaos and confusion across Washington, appearing to imperil government programs that fund schools, provide housing and ensure that low-income Americans have access to health care.

It’s the Gabe Evans Funding Freeze now, folks. Evans could have kept quiet and let the White House take the heat, and instead chose to pre-emptively own the whole manufactured crisis.

That was a mistake.

—–

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a half-assed proposal from the Trump administration to freeze federal spending, but not before a memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) caused chaos nationwide and shut down critical programs like the Medicaid payment system.

Caitlyn Kim of Colorado Public Radio caught up with several members of Colorado’s congressional delegation on Tuesday to get a sense of the reaction to President Trump’s bananas proposal. The reaction was fairly consistent:

Colorado’s Democratic lawmakers have been fielding lots of questions about the pause in federal funding.

“My office is getting calls from many local non-profits fearful their work will be impacted,” said Democratic Rep. Jason Crow on social media. “I’ve raised serious concerns with the Trump administration about these latest actions and how they’ll hurt our community.”

The original memo was vague and broad, saying it would pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance,” money that was already approved by Congress. It exempted payments “directly to individuals,” as well as Medicare and Social Security benefits. [Pols emphasis]

The Trump administration on Tuesday afternoon issued new guidance, trying to clarify that the freeze would not be across the board, but limited to programs and activities “implicated” by Trump’s Executive Orders, such as those ending federal DEI efforts, rolling back climate efforts, and halting funding for NGOs “that undermine the national interest.” The guidance also clarified that mandatory programs, such as SNAP, would continue without pause.

It didn’t stop congressional phones from ringing off the hook.

Kim notes that “No other presidential administration has done a sweeping freeze of congressionally approved spending like this in recent memory,” but that didn’t stop Colorado Congresspeople Lauren Boebert (R-Weld County) and Gabe Evans (R-Adams County) from shrugging off the concerns in lockstep support of Trump:

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, a strong Trump supporter, defended the administration’s move. She urged people not to listen to the “fearmongering of Democrats” saying the policy was “narrow in scope.”

“This is a necessary, temporary pause for specific programs listed under Executive Orders that must be evaluated as part of following through on President Trump’s promise to cut wasteful spending; our office is working with constituents to address concerns and provide more information as we receive it,” she said. [Pols emphasis]

A Boebert spokesperson said they haven’t gotten many calls about the freeze, but are sharing the guidance they received from the Administration with those that have reached out.

GOP Rep. Gabe Evans stressed the freeze is temporary and “designed to give time for the White House to review where the government is overspending.”

“This is a general memo with very little specifics. The inflammatory, fear-based language you’re hearing from the left doesn’t help anyone, nor is it based in fact,” he said in a social media post. He added he is waiting on more guidance from the White House on how it will affect veterans and student loans, among other issues. [Pols emphasis]

So President Trump wants to take away the “power of the purse” from Congress and derail critical programs like Medicaid and Head Start. What’s the big deal? We’re only talking about a few hundred billion dollars.

We know that Boebert is hopelessly in the tank for Trump and would support The Big Orange Guy even if he wanted to start eating babies. Sadly, Boebert can get away with this by virtue of representing the most Republican-leaning district (CO-04) in Colorado.

But Evans is one of the most endangered Republicans in the House of Representatives after only winning CO-08 by about 2,500 votes. Pretending that the house isn’t on fire when everyone else is starting to burn isn’t going to endear him to voters in 2026.

Comments

7 thoughts on “Evans, Boebert Accuse Democrats of “Fearmongering” Over Failed Federal Spending Freeze

    1. Weeellll, maybe.

      This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the court’s injunction. The President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.

      Of course, that comes from Leavitt, so who the hell knows.

      1. Leavitt is so over head it's ridiculous.  As for the status of the freeze, looks like it's business as usual as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW (*ketchup not included).

      2. The federal judge will help sort things out on Monday … and won't be amused by attempts to finesse and finagle. 

        This is even less competent than the "Muslim ban" of Trump Sad!-ministration 1.0. 

  1. Seeing Evans – who shall henceforth be known as "Himboebert" – serving as reliable administration mouthpiece can most charitably be described as unsurprising.

    So then, what will serve as PAB's "It was the COMMIES who set fire to the Reichstag" event? Place your bets!

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