US pauses all Federal aid and grants

Over 20 million lives are at risk after the PEPFAR program was suspended. Within a few weeks viral loads will return to pretreatment levels again. This is a human caused public health catastrophe.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

> It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between: chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities

I'm all for reigning in government spending and our unprecedented deficit, but not sure throwing a stick of dynamite into the grant office is the best approach.

Is the title true, though? I thought OMB paused funding to NGOs, foreign governments and large discretionary contracts, but the pause explicitly excluded all aids and benefit programs.

And how many NGOs have become too powerful and too meaningless and even detrimental to the US? I simply don't see aligned incentives. For instance, the more homeless are on the street, the more funding an NGO gets. Then how will the NGO have any incentive at all to truly help the homeless? Similarly, the more illegal passing at the border, the more funding NGOs will get. Then, why would they help close the border at all?

> Given the spending that is now on hold was apportioned by Congress, it is likely this will face legal challenges about the scope of presidential power.

So, how quickly will this be overturned?

I don't understand one thing.

Why is this submission flagged?

We hired someone to manage our obligations who was famous for signing contracts and then stiffing his contractors. It makes perfect sense that, once freed from underlings who were loyal to anyone or anything but him, he would continue this practice.

All the entities that were receiving those grants and aid have already obligated it. They have rented office space, hired employees, purchased equipment. And all of the entities they have contracted with using this money have done the same. If they have to dissolve, they won't be there to start up again if the courts manage to compel the administration to execute the laws as written. (And Trump is also famous for protracted lawsuits which he wins by default when some deadline has passed.) Closed storefronts don't tend to open with the same business.

I don't mind when rich fools learn hard lessons. Their self-esteem drops but their quality of life doesn't. It sucks when poor people are the blackboard on which this hard lesson is written.

Impeachment speedrun.

First the inspectors general firing, and now this - which seems to be illegal impoundment?

The first quarterly profits of the White House will be improved.

Businessmen do enjoy their short-term gains afterall.

Memo source, though apparently two were released, one with later clarifications.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/deb7af80-48b6-4b8a-... https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25506191-omb-memo-1-...

Side note the OMB (agency issuing memo in question) website redirects straight to whitehouse.gov, which seemingly was not previously the case.

"everything from development assistance to military aid."

Was written twice. I appreciated that.

The most important detail (the amount) is being left. Is this just a few dollars (in terms of the US budget) or a sizable portion? How is the money split between the different categories?

Earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42849061

He's rapidly trending into dictator territory

These discussions never seem to answer important questions.

If we never question taxation. And never question spending. Where do we end-up?

It is sustainable?

Why is it that we can never question either one of these things?

Are these things like fundamental laws of gravity?

Are politicians never to be questioned for their spending or desire to tax us more?

Or how they use our money?

Is it wrong to periodically evaluate the results obtained by every dollar spent?

If so, why?

Does that mean we should allow politicians and agencies to spend as they wish and without supervision or accountability?

Is there ever a good time for oversight?

Etc.

Today it was revealed that we were sending USD $50 million to Gaza for condoms. What? This is insane. And, I suspect, likely the tip of the iceberg.

C'mon folks. Questioning how our money is spent and how much money is taken from us by government is what we should be doing all the time. It should not be the exception. Without accountability, politicians (from all political angles) will take and spend as much as they are able to.

I have this hypothesis: If the government did not take taxes out of your paycheck every week and people had to write them a check every month, there would be riots in every city of this nation. People are blind to taxation and the related spending because they never see that money, it's magic money. You don't feel the pain. If you did, you'd be up in arms when you learn that $50MM of your dollars are going towards buying condoms on the other side of the planet.

And, BTW, those condoms are likely made in China. If they are needed, why doesn't China donate the condoms? Why do US taxpayers have to foot the bill and likely support a healthy profit margin in the process?

We are not going to end-up in a good place if we do not clean-up our attic and bring the house to order. I trust Elon/DOGE and, by extension, the current administration, to do just this. Enough is enough.

Put a different way: We DESPERATELY need to invest this money on internal growth, education, security, health, etc. We need housing, better health outcomes, much better education and myriad other things. Money is not unlimited. Instead of spending $50MM for condoms in Gaza, we should put that money to work where it will do the most good at home.

In order to know where and how much we are wasting, we need to put a microscope on everything and, perhaps, put a number of things on hold while we sort things out. It's a necessary part of the process.

Ignoring the legality of this, I don't really see what this is trying to accomplish. Even if the spending is not in line with Trump's priorities, it's not like he can unilaterally change the budget (of course, that's not stopping him...).

One silver lining of this madness is I expect bipartisan support for clarifying and codifying the scope of executive power into law at some point in the future (sadly likely after Trump is long gone, though).

With all the megabrains in here, how can some of you not see what's coming? China is making friends at the rate that the US is making enemies. Think about it for a second... Which new friends has the US made? I am talking solid, willing-to-give-you-the-middle-finger-and-go-with-the-other-guy friends (yeah, I know). Now contrast this to the friends China has made. China has secured the most powerful nation in each contested territory. South America, Africa, The Middle East and obviously, it is, itself the biggest power in Asia.

Now for effect, The US cannot even keep Europe aligned with them, and the fallout will be that much sharper in the next few years. You have bought cash money the sinking territories of Micronesia (great for UN votes, but not much else) What you have left is The English Speaking Conglomerate of USA, England (Not the UK - because I don't think you can count on Ireland, Scotland and Wales), Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And of these "Five Eyes", in a Sino-American conflict, two of them will be felled very quickly by their neighbour China (Australia and New Zealand) and Canada will have to fend off a massive assault by it's neighbour Russia (China's BFF) That leaves the original "greatest friendship". The enduring Anglo-American powerhouse.

Now I would think that England has not done itself any favours with Brexit. How is that going for them? So Europe is not a certain ally for them either. The EU is Europe, ask Turkey :-)

What you have left is an Anglo-American vs Sino-Russian battle for the future of humanity. The thing is the rest of humanity has already decided who they are betting on. Hint - It's not Anglo-America.

You Anglophones have managed to take control of 3 of the 6 continents. Is that not enough? And if it isn't then expect that there will be hell to pay, because at this point, the world will rather die on it's feet then endure more suffering under your boot.

Goeiedag en Dankie.

Awesome conversation. Saner heads prevailed in this one. This is going to backfire very badly on the American people if it becomes the norm. Happy that supporters of this madness got their asses kicked out of here today.

> Medicaid and Social Security benefits are not affected

That's disappointing, I wonder why those aren't getting paused? If you want to get spending under control and you're already breaking the law then you might as well stop everything.