White House officials announced Wednesday that the Trump administration has decided to rescind its temporary pause of federal loans, grants and other financial assistance – not including individual assistance – according to several national news outlets this morning. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had clarified that the order did not include Medicaid, SNAP or Social Security benefits.
On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked part of President Donald Trump’s executive order to freeze billions in federal aid, which local officials said could have affected the state's budget and funding for Lahaina recovery, health care and housing in Hawaiʻi.
The National Council of Nonprofits was one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit against the acting head of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on Monday.
President and CEO Diane Yentel said in a statement, “We are glad that this memo has been rescinded. The chaos unleashed by the uncertainty and lack of adequate notice yesterday should never have happened. Nonprofits are vital partners for government, and payment for the services they provide should never have been in question.
"Nonprofit organizations throughout the country and the people they serve can breathe a sigh of relief now that the White House has, at least for now, backed off its reckless and harmful plan to halt all federal funding for critical programs from homelessness and housing assistance to disaster relief and rebuilding, to rape crisis centers and suicide hotlines.”
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
