The Trump administration has rescinded an order attempting to freeze federal aid spending

The White House Office of Management and Budget revoked a directive on Wednesday that stopped government grants and loans, causing considerable uncertainty this week.

“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,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media platform X.

Leavitt alluded to an OMB letter published Monday night, which urged federal agencies to temporarily halt "all activities related to the obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance" until the government performs a review to ensure spending is consistent with President Trump's goals.

The White House budget office had ordered a halt to government grants and loans, according to an internal memorandum received Monday, which sparked concern even though the White House claimed it was not as broad an order as it looked.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump blamed the media for the confusion over the Monday night memo, claiming that his administration has already identified government waste, including training for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and "authorized payments to foreign organizations."

“To correct any confusion that the media has purposely and somehow, for whatever reason created — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have not been affected by any action we’re taking in any way, shape or form. We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse,” Trump said.

Some of the most profound uncertainty caused by the freeze had been over Medicaid. During her first White House news briefing, Leavitt was unable to immediately answer a question about whether Medicaid spending was included in the freeze. She subsequently stated on X that the White House was aware of the Medicaid site's downtime and that it "will be back online shortly," but state Medicaid administrators were unable to access the federal funding gateway for many hours on Tuesday.