Trump Shuts Down DC Laundromat: Every Grant or Loan To Be Reviewed

by Steve MacDonald

The machine that turns the fruits of your great-grandchildren’s yet-unearned income into grift (plus interest) for the deep state machine got some bad news. The new Sheriff wants to put a hold on things just in case the previous “sheriff” was a bit too fast and loose with those future “earnings.”

As in, 36 Trillion is debt, and growing is a lousy way to run anything. Democrats like Granny Shaheen, one of four DC spend-then-tax Ambassadors to New Hampshire, hasoverseen nearly 26 trillion in new debt since arriving in Washington. She ran on opposing irresponsible spending. The national debt was just over ten trillion in 2009 when she joined the US Senate. I guess we should have asked her what irresponsible meant.

Anyway, here is one small step for mankind. Trump has shouted halt!

All federal disbursements not given directly to individuals (Social Security, Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, etc) have been put on hold. In response to the president’s instructions, the Trump White House Office of Management and Budget is to review all allocations by Congress and the Executive branch.

Federal agencies “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” White House Office of Management and Budget acting director Matthew Vaeth said in the memorandum, a copy of which was obtained by CNN. The pause also blocks the issuance of new grants.

The memo specifies that the pause will not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits, nor does it include “assistance provided directly to individuals.”

The freeze on federal assistance is slated to take effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday and could impact trillions of dollars. It marks the latest move by the Trump administration to exert control over federal funding, even that which has already been allocated by Congress.

“This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” Vaeth wrote.

The pause also applies to “other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” according to the memo.

In other words, they don’t think Americans want their dollars used to pay for progressive fads.

“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,” he continued. “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.”

Leading Democrats are moaning about how Congress allocated this money, and it is, therefore, the law. Interesting. Chuck Schumer didn’t seem to care at all about ‘The Law’ when it was ignored to let millions illegally cross the border – when they were not being flown in at taxpayer expense. The law didn’t apply to J6ers or Liz Cheney when she destroyed exculpatory evidence. The Law didn’t matter when Executive branch offices lied to Congress repeatedly. The Law didn’t apply when criminal aliens were arrested and then released to avoid detention and deportation despite committing the crime of illegal entry and additional crimes.

It’s a very long list, Chuck, and I think we can add that money funneled by the Biden administration to pet interests without much regard to what Congress intended – to which you had no objection.

And I have to wonder how many times we might find a wide berth of options couched behind a Congressional abdication to Executive branch Power that puts spending at the department head’s discretion.

I, for one, do agree that if Congress specified a purpose for funding, then that is the law, so I’m curious how the Trump administration intends to address that. I suspect that, like his halt and review on Wind projects, regulators will be looking for ‘alleged legal deficiencies underlying the Federal Government’s leasing and permitting of onshore and offshore wind projects.” The government has layers of barriers and obstacles that are also something Congress created. The presumption (I’m still guessing) is that on the way out the door, Team Biden skipped as much of that as it could to get the approvals done before Trump stepped in.

They did this with Gulf of Maine Wind, so the odds are excellent that there was fast-tracking across the board. But any deviation from the approved process (real or perceived) will suffice to block grants and loans. Team Trump is using their byzantine bureaucracy against them, or at least it looks that way.

I’d also bet that if there is even a whisper of a whiff of fraud in any audit, they can shut down that gravy train indefinitely. Investigations, reviewed, audits, possible indictment. This will leave a lot of progressive NGOs “thirsty” for resources they can’t rely on in the absence of favorable laundromat attendants. It will also tie up money that doesn’t exist and could or should never be spent.

And yes, nothing gets better if we don’t address welfare in all its forms, but we’re a week into Trump 2.0, and he has shown a commitment to slowing or stopping the bleeding. But he will need congress to make serious advances on the debt and spending problem—both cutting and economic growth as a platform for future Republican presidents to stand.

Author

  • Steve MacDonald

    Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, award-winning blogger, and a member of the Board of Directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor, Executive Editor, assistant editor, Editor, content curator, complaint department, Op-ed editor, gatekeeper (most likely to miss typos because he has no editor), and contributor at GraniteGrok.com. Steve is also a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, The Republican Volunteer Coalition, has worked for or with many state and local campaigns and grassroots groups, and is a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

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