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Thursday GNR: The Insanity is the Point [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-30

It’s a Bad News, Good News day—week, month, year…Minions of The Man Who Would Be Dictator have gone right off the deep end, pretending that he can override bills and appropriations passed by Congress and halt—well, anything and everything that helps people, on the insane excuse that it harms them, and per Lindsey Graham, those laws are just technicalities. (Meet the Press) Medical research. Ongoing medical treatments. Suicide prevention.

But it turns out that OMB went too far, and its order was rescinded in toto. More below.

x If you are in a red state, flood your Governor’s offices with phone calls demanding to know what the plan will be if Medicaid and Meals on Wheels and SNAP and Headstart don’t receive funding this week. This is on them for going along with a insane autocrat. Call them. They knew.



[image or embed] — Jess Piper (@piperformissouri.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 1:25 PM

Nobody in or out of government knows what these latest Executive Orders and OMB pronouncements mean, except that the OMB order has become non-operational. We don’t know what they say, because they are intentionally written in bafflegab to maximize chaos. We don’t know which of the observed consequences, like briefly shutting down Medicaid portals in all 50 states, was consciously intended. We do know that the President rescinded this OMB rescission, and that it is all in court or headed there ASAP. Early manifestations have been put under temporary injunctions pending arguments to be made next week. We know that much of it is unconstitutional on its face, except in a tiny bubble of self-proclaimed legal experts, many associated with the usual intertwined suspects such as the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, and Project 2025, and with other bogus legal theories such as Independent State Legislature (shot down by SCOTUS).

The Pushback is Working

Rachel Maddow’s Oops! Nevermind! segment last night listed multiple cases of the Maladministration blocking something, like HIV-AIDS medication, and then climbing down at the focused outrage from the public. It should be up on YouTube today.

Keep it up.

The OMB Disaster

OMB: MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

FROM: Matthew J. Vaeth, Acting Director, Office of Management and Budget SUBJECT: Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs 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.

A cursory examination of the above shows 16 lies and delusions, but no actionable intelligence.

There is no electoral mandate. This is not “the will of the American people”.

This Maladministration intends to waste trillions on Fossil Foolishness; ginormous tax cuts for the Broligarchy; military waste, fraud, and abuse; Bitcoin; and much more.

Federal financial assistance is investments, not spending.

Karl Marx has nothing to do with any of this, although he did write an admiring letter to President Lincoln right after the Emancipation Proclamation. It gave ownership of much of the means of production (the enslaved) to the actual workers (the formerly enslaved).

And so on.

OMB memo freezing federal funds leaves many state, local programs in limbo

Several states have announced plans to sue in response to the White House memo that stops funding for most programs, including Medicaid. Update: U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan on Tuesday afternoon blocked the Trump administration memo that would have frozen trillions of dollars in federal funds. The administrative stay pauses the funding freeze until Monday, the Associated Press reported. On Monday evening, the acting director of the White House’s budget office issued a memo temporarily pausing all federal grants and loans, leaving state and local governments unsure of how or if their programs — some of which are technology programs — will be impacted. The memo [link to paywalled NYT article], authored by White House Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Matthew Vaeth, directs federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m. E.T. While the memo does not directly name which programs will be impacted, it does cite carveouts for Medicare and Social Security benefits, and any federal financial aid received directly by individuals.

White House rescinds order freezing federal grants and loans The White House says it has rescinded a memo authorising a federal freeze on hundreds of billions of dollars in grants and loans, which sparked widespread panic among millions of people who rely on government aid. It comes after a judge temporarily halted the order on Tuesday, only hours after it was signed by President Donald Trump and the memo announcing it was issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The judge paused the order until next Monday, after a lawsuit was filed by a group of organisations representing grant recipients. The new letter issued on Wednesday states "OMB Memorandum M-25-13 is rescinded." It is unclear what prompted the apparent U-turn. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (previously a clueless star of some Project 2025 “training” videos) says it doesn’t rescind the Executive Order, just the OMB memo on how to implement the Executive Order. Next Up

Broadband expansion in limbo after Trump order pausing infrastructure funds

Trump's pause on 2021 infrastructure bill funding has made uncertain the future of broadband expansion projects led by the states.

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