The Fort Worth Press - White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze

USD -
AED 3.672997
AFN 73.329549
ALL 94.500284
AMD 396.389637
ANG 1.802344
AOA 914.502763
ARS 1059.055589
AUD 1.570746
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.692558
BAM 1.865963
BBD 2.019206
BDT 121.500365
BGN 1.87
BHD 0.37689
BIF 2961.136102
BMD 1
BND 1.341131
BOB 6.935109
BRL 5.706015
BSD 1.000062
BTN 86.840084
BWP 13.803434
BYN 3.272734
BYR 19600
BZD 2.008787
CAD 1.418775
CDF 2865.999983
CHF 0.900803
CLF 0.024727
CLP 948.890094
CNY 7.253989
CNH 7.26425
COP 4122
CRC 506.513889
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.200139
CZK 23.909002
DJF 178.086047
DKK 7.11826
DOP 62.072157
DZD 134.776945
EGP 50.601096
ERN 15
ETB 128.368689
EUR 0.954255
FJD 2.29525
FKP 0.803654
GBP 0.793965
GEL 2.824994
GGP 0.803654
GHS 15.451106
GIP 0.803654
GMD 71.495986
GNF 8647.658482
GTQ 7.715609
GYD 209.226777
HKD 7.780535
HNL 25.495518
HRK 7.225076
HTG 130.756057
HUF 383.175019
IDR 16243.1
ILS 3.556976
IMP 0.803654
INR 86.84745
IQD 1310.041168
IRR 42087.496166
ISK 139.970217
JEP 0.803654
JMD 158.012489
JOD 0.7095
JPY 151.433501
KES 129.14992
KGS 87.450188
KHR 3997.538509
KMF 468.600237
KPW 900.090061
KRW 1443.630246
KWD 0.30848
KYD 0.833377
KZT 497.393013
LAK 21726.001651
LBP 89553.640002
LKR 295.66802
LRD 199.50484
LSL 18.434076
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.906764
MAD 9.962553
MDL 18.651045
MGA 4723.583092
MKD 58.747702
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3461.151901
MOP 8.013013
MRU 39.851356
MUR 46.280154
MVR 15.401971
MWK 1734.111216
MXN 20.31908
MYR 4.434005
MZN 63.897903
NAD 18.4339
NGN 1510.049732
NIO 36.798344
NOK 11.114597
NPR 138.944516
NZD 1.74336
OMR 0.385003
PAB 1.000052
PEN 3.699488
PGK 4.022344
PHP 58.051499
PKR 279.214033
PLN 3.966897
PYG 7903.486636
QAR 3.645106
RON 4.749028
RSD 111.749006
RUB 91.828535
RWF 1413.067848
SAR 3.750615
SBD 8.432716
SCR 14.425935
SDG 600.999638
SEK 10.69982
SGD 1.34091
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.749994
SLL 20969.505638
SOS 571.485815
SRD 35.204995
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.750698
SYP 13003.016048
SZL 18.427794
THB 33.703503
TJS 10.9004
TMT 3.5
TND 3.170298
TOP 2.342098
TRY 36.239302
TTD 6.784367
TWD 32.71198
TZS 2605.059026
UAH 41.518778
UGX 3679.834374
UYU 43.34324
UZS 12981.982455
VES 61.993106
VND 25482.5
VUV 123.663246
WST 2.837369
XAF 625.826579
XAG 0.03093
XAU 0.000345
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.763158
XOF 625.826579
XPF 113.781967
YER 247.999888
ZAR 18.42825
ZMK 9001.216464
ZMW 28.12588
ZWL 321.999592
  • AZN

    -0.8700

    73.58

    -1.18%

  • RELX

    -0.8400

    51.07

    -1.64%

  • GSK

    -0.3800

    36.17

    -1.05%

  • NGG

    -0.5400

    60.73

    -0.89%

  • SCS

    -0.0700

    12.35

    -0.57%

  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • CMSC

    0.0900

    23.5

    +0.38%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.84

    +0.26%

  • RIO

    0.0700

    63.36

    +0.11%

  • BCC

    1.0300

    121.63

    +0.85%

  • CMSD

    0.1872

    23.69

    +0.79%

  • BCE

    0.1900

    23.82

    +0.8%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.36

    -0.84%

  • BTI

    -0.7900

    38.82

    -2.04%

  • JRI

    0.0435

    12.83

    +0.34%

  • BP

    0.5100

    35

    +1.46%

White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze
White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze / Photo: © AFP

White House sparks confusion over fate of unprecedented funding freeze

US President Donald Trump's bid to freeze trillions of dollars in federal funding was thrown into confusion Wednesday when the White House appeared to withdraw the controversial plan -- then minutes later insisted that it had not.

Text size:

Rafts of government aid programs and the health care system for millions of low-income Americans were up in the air after Trump ordered a halt to potentially trillions of dollars in grants, loans and other aid late Monday.

The move -- made in an order from White House's Office of Management and Budget -- sparked instant alarm and confusion, as well as a flurry of lawsuits before a judge issued a temporary injunction.

On Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget issued a terse notification saying the freezing of aid order had been "rescinded."

However, soon after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the spending freezes remained in place -- and only the memo from the budget office was rescinded.

"This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze" which remains in "full force," she said on X.

The White House has strongly defended the freeze as a blow against what Trump says is waste and "woke" federal spending programs, and a tool to make sure that every government office supports the Republican's right-wing political goals.

Democrats accuse Trump of constitutional overreach by seeking to stop spending already approved by Congress, which has authority over the US budget.

Vocal Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett pounced on the new bout of confusion, posting: "Incompetence on full display... It's day 9 for a fool who had the job for 4 years and still has NO CLUE of how government, the law, nor the constitution works."

- White House on defense -

Trump was due to sign the Laken Riley Act, a bill cracking down on migrant criminal suspects. It is his first piece of legislation since he returned to power vowing a blitz on illegal immigration.

But Trump's victory lap risks being overshadowed by the confusion on his high-profile spending freeze.

In her first press briefing on Tuesday, Leavitt had denied that the freeze had caused any "uncertainty" and defended it as part of Trump's bid to make the government "good stewards of taxpayer dollars."

Trump unveiled another radical move on Tuesday, offering most federal workers the option to leave their jobs in exchange for eight months severance, plunging the lives of US civil servants into disarray.

Leavitt had earlier Wednesday denied accusations of a purge of Trump's opponents over the severance plan.

"Absolutely false. This is a suggestion to federal workers that they have to return to work," she told reporters, referring to Trump's bid to make all federal employees return to full-time office work.

"If they don't then they have the option to resign and this administration is very generously offering to pay them for eight months."

- Focus on immigration -

The Laken Riley act -- which orders the pre-trial detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft and violent crimes -- is named for a 22-year-old student murdered by a Venezuelan man who was wanted for shoplifting.

Trump repeatedly spotlighted Riley's case during his election campaign as he railed against undocumented migrants, blaming them for "poisoning the blood" of the country.

Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan with no papers, was convicted of murdering the nursing student in 2024 after she went missing on her morning run near the University of Georgia in Athens.

Ibarra had been arrested and released twice before, including when he crossed the Mexican border in 2022.

Trump has launched what his second administration is casting as a major crackdown on illegal migration, trumpeting immigration raids and arrests and deportations on military aircraft.

His administration said on Wednesday it had evoked an extension of the protected status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans that had allowed them to remain in the United States.

Trump has made the issue a priority on the international stage too, threatening Colombia with sanctions and massive tariffs for turning back two planes of deportees, before Bogota backed down.

P.McDonald--TFWP