What is the federal funding pause?
On January 27, 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent out a memo that told federal agencies to stop spending money. The OMB is the office in charge of implementing the federal budget. This was because the White House wanted a full review of programs to see if they fit with the President’s priorities. This is very unusual for a president to do.
This memo used very board language, which was very unclear to many agencies. This caused some of them to take part in the pause until they got further instructions. All open federal funding opportunities and application processes will also be canceled.
Many organizations may file lawsuits over this in the coming days and weeks. Just before 5 p.m. ET today, January 28, a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s actions until February 3. This means that federal funds should continue to flow until then.
What does this freeze mean for disabled people?
On its first day, this freeze has already started harming people with disabilities. Medicaid portals in all 50 states went down today. We may see layoffs at disability organizations that receive federal funding and rely on federal grants to pay their workers. Schools have to continue to provide special education services. This will be difficult if they cannot use the federal money that funds these services.
The pause ordered by the White House takes away opportunities from American people. Americans have already paid for these services with tax money. Congress has already allocated the funding for these programs and services.
Right now, AAPD believes that this freeze impacts two important categories of activity:
- Funding that goes from the federal government to states to fund programs that are important to disabled people
- Funding and grants that fund state and national disability organizations
The following programs could be affected by the freeze. These programs are also ones that disabled people directly benefit from
- Medicaid
- Medicaid grants like the Money Follows the Person program
- Special education, including personnel preparation and research
- Vocational rehabilitation
- Housing assistance
- Childcare
- School meals
- Adult protective services
- Veteran’s Administration grants
There are also organizations that are funded by federal money. These could be affected by the freeze, too:
- Protection & Advocacy agencies
- Developmental Disability Councils
- University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDS)
- Centers for Independent Living
- State Independent Living groups
- Resource centers for people with paralysis, limb loss, and traumatic brain injury
- Disability Innovation Fund awards
- Parent Training and Information Centers
- Grants from the Office of Disability Employment Policy
- Special Olympics
- Organizations that federal agencies have agreements with. For example, the Centers for Disease Control working with organizations on certain conditions. Like epilepsy, AIDS, blood disorders, and other chronic conditions
- Payments to universities for research grants and graduate medical education
AAPD does not receive federal funding, so this category does not apply to us. AAPD is not at risk of having our programs or activities halted as a result of this order.
Are there other programs for disabled Americans that might be affected by this?
Yes, there are many government programs and activities that could be affected by the freeze. The lists we provided are not comprehensive.
For example, we don’t know if Older Americans Act programs are included. If so, programs like Meals on Wheels would be included. Another example is funding to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. Programs you may have heard of like “Section 8” which help people afford housing have already affected disabled homeowners and renters
We like to say that every policy issue is a disability issue. Why? The disability community is made up of every other community in the United States. There are disabled people in every community.
That means that there are many federal programs potentially impacted by the freeze that impact disabled people. Even if they do not specifically focus on disabled people.
The lists of programs and organizations provided by AAPD conflict with other information I saw. What does that mean?
The lack of clear guidance from OMB and the White House means that there may be a lot of conflicting information for a while. That is why AAPD will update this page frequently.
The White House and OMB have put out conflicting information. The White House has said that things like SSI, SSDI, and Medicare wouldn’t be cut. But, this information was not in either memo. They also said food assistance programs like SNAP and WIC would be excluded. This information also did not appear in either memo. The White House also said in a Q&A that Medicaid, Head Start, special education, and vocational rehabilitation would be excluded. But it did not make that clear in the memos.
We cannot be confident about the accuracy of the White House’s list of excluded programs. This is because they are not in either memo.
People have reported to AAPD that they are experiencing disruptions in programs the White House said were not affected. For example, Head Start programs already reported being denied access to money on January 28. Medicaid portals that states use were shut down nationwide. According to officials in many states, the Medicaid system’s website used by state officials was slow and delayed. This is because of “executive orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments.”
How long will financial assistance be paused?
It is not clear how long this freeze will last. There was no mention of when the pause will be lifted in either memo. We will update this resource when we have more information.
But. there are some dates are mentioned in the memos that could give us an idea of what the timeline might look like. Agencies have until February 10 to submit information on activities that are subject to the pause. OMB’s second memo asked agencies to submit information on specific projects by February 7 if the projects have funding obligations through March 15. The second memo included a list of projects, and it is not clear if the list of projects in the second memo are the same as the funding lines paused by OMB.
I don’t want these programs and services for disabled people to end. What can I do?
- Encourage your governor and state representatives to contact Congress and the White House
- Reach out to your representatives in Congress. Let them know you want them to tell the White House that this freeze is unacceptable
- Raise awareness and share your stories!
- Go to town halls with local elected officials and community members directly impacted by the funding freeze.
- Go live on social media. Record and share a short video clip across your platforms. Explain what is happening and how it will affect the people you represent.
- Share local stories with local media to show the impacts of the pause.
AAPD will share more information as soon as we have it. We will also share ways to engage your elected officials to let them know how this freeze will impact you and our community.