Dear National Council members,
We continue to examine the implications stemming from the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Jan. 27 memorandum temporarily freezing federal disbursements to many federal programs. While some agencies and programs were exempted, many of the programs that impact our members were not, and details continue to emerge.
Federal agencies have been directed to fill out a spreadsheet as part of an analysis by Feb. 7 to ensure compliance with the president’s most recent executive orders. This is a breakdown of which health programs are included in this latest action.
Notably, we recognize conflicting guidance has been issued. While the above report identifies Medicaid programs, a Q&A document from the administration notes that Medicaid will continue without pause. As of Tuesday morning, all 50 states reported outages of their Medicaid online portals, and the Trump administration has stated they are aware of the outages and expect the portals to be back online shortly.
Also, several groups have taken action to block this funding freeze. As of this writing, several Democratic state attorneys general said they would ask a court to block the freeze from taking effect. Several groups representing nonprofits, public health professionals and small businesses have already filed suit in D.C. asking the court to prevent the freeze from continuing. On Tuesday evening, U.S. District Court Judge Loren L. AliKhan issued a temporary stay on the funding freeze until Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. ET.
The funding freeze may lead to project delays or cancellations, resulting in layoffs of workers involved in these programs, and may ultimately increase the unemployment rate, making it vital lawmakers understand the impact of this freeze on communities across the country.
We know you help communities in every state in the nation by caring for children, the elderly, veterans and others in need of support. We also know mental health and substance use challenges are not partisan issues; they are issues affecting all Americans, and we are making progress.
We will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves.
Thank you,
