WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has rescinded its freeze on federal grants, which created confusion regarding a broad variety of government programs, including some in the rail industry.
The Washington Post reports that a memo today (Jan. 29, 2025) from Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, said an order issued on Monday “is rescinded.” That order called on federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.”
The initial order spurred widespread confusion, placing in doubt a wide variety of existing grants for Amtrak and for other rail programs, such as the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program [see “Amtrak and rail program funding caught …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 28, 2025]. It also spurred at least two lawsuits, one of which resulted in a federal judge delaying the freeze, which was set to begin at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 28, until at least Feb. 3.
Earlier in the day, 31 Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wrote newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, saying the freeze was putting “billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and tens of thousands of projects at risk,” and asking for clarification to “steam the chaotic affects” of the freeze. That request now appears to be academi.
— This is a developing story. Watch Trains News Wire for more information as it becomes available.
Last sentence should be “stem the chaotic effects of the freeze”, not steam.
That’s funny it seemed to be acceptable when the Dems were being insulted on this site, seems the R’s are thin skinned kind of like Donny.
Well said Mr. Riely. And I sense a little buyers remorse from some of the regular posters on this site. And it’s only just beginning.
CHRIS — No buyer’s remorse from me. Trump never fooled me. I’ve known for decades that Donald Trump is the south end of a northbound horse. Which makes him about ten million times better than almost any Dempcrat.
Exactly Galen.
I see the last four posts have consisted of insults, rather than advocacy. When that’s all you have, it’s back to the schoolyard with schoolboy profanity. Actually, I feel sorry for the Harris-Walz crowd. Looks like the Republic might survive, after all.
Donny shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions late in the day when he Sundowning.
Captain Chaos and his amateur wrecking crew. Will we survive??
Four years (well more like two when the Dems retake the House in 26) of chaos & mayhem!
Not so fast. According to the White House press secretary, it sounds like rescinding the memo was just an effort to avoid the court order. She said they have every intention of implementing the freeze.
When you elect slime balls, you get slime ball activity…
I wonder if Mr. Trump has ever heard the expression “You pick your battles.” He’s been president for seven days and he’s already gone to futile war with Panama, Denmark, the postal service, etc. etc., this in addition to the policies he has a better chance of enacting.
This is one of those oh oh moments. Trump is correct in creating a group to look at ALL Federal spending and recommend what should be cut and/or eliminated. The Feds are involved in way more than they should be, we are $36 trillion in debt. Time to stop kicking the can down the road. But it needs to be done in an orderly fashion.
Why so much debt? Remember the past congress passed a tax cut for the rich. the rich pay a less rate than my children
And in addition to tax cuts for the top percentile, the biggest source of waste is the Neil
Medicare is another one of the programs that will be affected if this freeze is allowed to stand.
Sorry. Misread the original post by TRAINS. The article is confusingly worded!