Editor's Note, 1/29/2025, 12:32 p.m.: According to reports, the Office of Management Budget has rescinded the federal funding freeze ordered by President Donald Trump.
Original story below:
Officials across all levels of Dallas’ government were sent scrambling Tuesday as details of President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze emerged. The memorandum, titled “Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs" was expected to go into effect Tuesday evening before a judge issued a block on the order that lasts until Feb. 3.
Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett told reporters Tuesday evening that the issue had caused “panic” among her family, friends and colleagues who were uncertain whether the order would affect issues such as student loan disbursement or SNAP food assistance. Even her hairstylist had expressed worry over the sweeping freeze earlier in the day, Crockett said.
“The president did say as he campaigned that he would be a dictator on day one. It sounds like he's going to continue to try his best to be a dictator,” Crockett told reporters during her congressional swearing-in ceremony held in Fair Park. "The reality is that we go through appropriations every single year. … We have monies that have been appropriated by law and no swipe of a pen can just delete that.”
Crockett added that she is concerned that the freeze will hurt infrastructure projects in her district where contracts have already been issued based on the money promised by Congress.
In Dallas County, dozens of programs receive lifeline funding through federal programs. Just minutes after the freeze directive was blocked by a federal judge, Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins spoke to the media about widespread effects a stall in funding could have across Dallas.
"We have scrambled today to see what would be impacted. Parkland [hospital], schools," Jenkins said. “These pauses would’ve been extremely detrimental.”
More than $150 million of Dallas County’s budget appropriations come through federal funds, assisting programs that Jenkins said would not be possible without those funds.
Part of Tuesday’s chaos was the uncertainty of what programs would be hit by Trump’s funding freeze. Spokespersons for University of Texas at Arlington and University of Texas at Dallas told the Observer that the schools were assessing whether the memorandum would apply to student loan payments or research funding. UT Dallas has directed students working on research projects that have already received federal funding to continue their work, and the the U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday afternoon that the order would not affect federal student loans or Pell Grants.
A statement released by the city of Dallas said the city is also taking stock of what programs could take a financial hit if the funding freeze goes into effect next week. More information will be released as it becomes available, the city said.
But trouble with the federal Medicaid program portal added uncertainty to the order. Although Medicaid was said not to be affected by the order, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon took to social media to warn about the website tanking across all 50 states, a glitch that Crockett referred to as quite the coincidence.
“Everyone is paying attention, I will say that [Trump is] awakening everyone,” Crockett said. “This administration is sending out mixed signals. At the end of the day, whichever signals they're sending out, I personally believe from my legal training that all of it is illegal.”
