Welp. Trump just cut off all federal funding & shut down Medicaid portals in every state.

Via Marisa Kabas of The Handbasket (later confirmed by various other news agencies):

Early Monday evening I received a copy of a memo that will impact thousands of institutions supported by funding from the federal government. 

A copy of the memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was provided to The Handbasket at approximately 5pm ET by a source whose anonymity is being protected for fear of professional retribution. The memo was sent to the heads of executive departments and agencies with the subject, “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs.” I shared the news on Bluesky at 6:04pm ET, and my reporting was confirmed by the Washington Post a few hours later.

It is a truly unhinged document that sounds like it was written by the world’s most petty 4Chan poster—but then again, that’s who’s currently running our federal government. Here’s the first paragraph to get a feel for it (emphasis mine):

The American people elected Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States and gave him a mandate to increase the impact of every federal taxpayer dollar. In Fiscal Year 2024, of the nearly $10 trillion that the Federal Government spent, more than $3 trillion was Federal financial assistance, such as grants and loans. Career and political appointees in the Executive Branch have a duty to align Federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through Presidential priorities. Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending "wokeness" and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again. 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.

The memo goes on to say that the “pause” on federal grants and loans is effective as of 5pm on Tuesday. OMB, which is part of the the Executive Office of the President, is asking agencies to do an “audit” of all grant programs to identify any that involve “financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.” Any grants inconsistent with their philosophy of intolerance will be terminated. Agencies must submit programs, projects or activities that may fall under these categories by February 10th. 

First, I want to give a huge shout-out to independent journalist Ms. Kabas for breaking the story hours ahead of anyone else.

Beyond that, every federal agency as well as any university, hospital, research facility & countless other organizations are in a state of panic/chaos at the moment as a result of this insanity. Case in point, this post by U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida:

We’ve been on the phone with multiple agencies/orgs. They’ve been completely cut off from federal money. We’re talking housing, homeless services, public safety, etc. I’m calling a press conference today to explain how this could have drastic local impacts to our constituents.

A few hours ago, there was this via the Chicago Sun Times:

Trump's federal funding freeze slated to disrupt vast array of programs, Illinois shut out of Medicaid

The temporary federal freeze has shut Illinois out of Medicaid, according to Gov. JB Pritzker’s office. The government-funded health insurance program covered about 3.9 million people in Illinois in 2023, including low-income adults, children, pregnant women and people with disabilities.

I actually have total Medicaid enrollment at around 2.96 million in Illinois as of October 2024 (plus another 285,000 in CHIP), but that's not really the point.

The point is this, via U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon:

NEW: My staff has confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night's federal funding freeze. This is a blatant attempt to rip away health care from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.

As a reminder:

• Over 73 million Americans rely on Medicaid for their healthcare coverage...21% of the total U.S. population. This rises to 79.3 million when you include the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or over 23% of the population
• Medicaid pays for 41% of all births in the U.S.
• Medicaid pays for 62% of all nursing home care in the U.S.
• The federal government pays for anywhere between 50 - 85% of all Medicaid costs depending on the state/territory.