The measure could have blocked hundreds or even thousands of billions of dollars irrigating the whole country. Monday, January 26 in the evening, the White House of Donald Trump asked the ministries and federal agencies to freeze part of the “assistance” expenses (mainly subsidies and allowances) to make it a review, and ensure their Compliance with “presidential priorities”. Qualified Tuesday by the White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, “very responsible”, this frost of federal subsidies quickly caused bronca, and confusion in the country.
For a few hours on Tuesday, the access portal in Medicaid, health insurance for the poorest Americans, was thus inaccessible in several American states, preventing hospitals and doctors from obtaining payment of acts carried out, according to several elected democrats . The White House later assured that access was going to be restored.
According to the presidential memo, the objective of the frost is “to eliminate the financial weight of inflation on citizens, to end” wokes “and state instrumentalization policies”, while the republican candidate had promised to cut in the expenses of the federal state. The federal state spent around 3,000 billion dollars last year in “financial assistance, which includes scholarships, loans, emergency aid in the event of a natural disaster.
“A robbery”
The democratic opposition immediately mounted in the niche, denouncing, by the voice of the responsible for the Democrat minority in the Senate Chuck Schumer, an “illegal, dangerous, destructive, cruel” decision. “It is a robbery, carried out on a national scale,” he also cracked during a press conference, denouncing “a stab in the heart of the average American family”. “The Americans should wonder if it is” woke “to finance research against cancer or the reconstruction of a dilapidated bridge,” added Washington Patty Murray state senator, pointing “the disastrous consequences For people throughout the country “of such a measure, and also citing sectors of early childhood, housing or support in the event of a natural disaster.
Even Republicans have expressed their confusion: “We must understand what the memo means, and we will then know if it is too wide or not, but it seems that it is the case,” said the Arkansas senator John Boozman at Politico.
Several NGOs and organizations representing small businesses quickly filed an appeal to a Washington Federal Court, judging the memo published Monday evening “devoid of any legal basis or the simplest justification”. The judge seized of the file ordered its immediate suspension, and until next Monday, the time to examine the file, while the general prosecutors of 23 states challenged the text. According to the law professor at Columbia University Gillian Metzger, “the executive power has the possibility of” postponing or canceling expenses but only in specific cases and according to specific procedures “.
Civil servants encouraged to resign
The shattering announcements continued on Tuesday evening, when the American federal officials received a letter offering to those who wish to resign, keeping their salary and benefits until the end of September. “It is estimated that 5 to 10 % of the workforce will resign, which could allow savings of around 100 billion dollars,” said Tesla, SpaceX and X, who piloted a Tesla Musk, Consultative mission to the government to save money. The office thanks those who will decide to stay, while specifying that they cannot guarantee the sustainability of their post.
Already last week, the new head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio had announced in a circular freeze for 90 days the aids brought abroad, with the exception of that provided to Egypt and Israel, the time of a Complete review of all programs. An announcement whose consequences were quick to be felt through the globe. In Ukraine in particular, many assistance projects have been suspended suddenly in the middle of war with Russia: support for veterans, local media, or health aid. “Most of the projects have received a stop order,” a source in the Ukrainian office of the United States agency for international development (USAID) told AFP.