A Whirlwind Week

By Laura Walling, Vice President of Government Affairs, Goodwill Industries International, Inc.

Many nonprofits including Goodwill spent the week analyzing the scope of President Trump’s executive orders, assessing the impact of the temporary freeze in federal funding, looking at ways in which federally funded programs align with the new administration’s priorities, and monitoring court cases while still executing on our mission and serving our communities.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees federal agencies and how money is spent, issued a memo on Monday calling for a broad pause of federal spending effective Tuesday at 5pm. A group of nonprofits, small businesses and other stakeholders challenged the pause.  A federal judge intervened just before 5pm on Tuesday and temporarily blocked the freeze from going into effect on Tuesday. A second suit was filed by attorney generals (AG) from 22 states and Washington, DC.

On Wednesday, OMB issued a memo rescinding Monday’s funding-freeze memo. However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X on Wednesday that the funding freeze is still in effect causing additional confusion. This confusion has led to the continuance of litigation. A judge hearing the case from the AGs has granted a temporary restraining order on pausing funding to states, while a hearing on extending the stay for nonprofits and other stakeholders will occur on February 3^rd.

We will continue to provide updates related to this situation and offer opportunities for our advocates to engage with lawmakers and the administration to discuss the importance of the federal programs.