Confusion in Miami over federal grant freeze as White House works to clarify details
White House officials attempted to clarify the scope of sweeping action by President Donald Trump to freeze federal grant funding on Tuesday after the Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to temporarily pause the disbursement of nearly all grants by the end of the day.
The directive — blocked temporarily Tuesday afternoon by a federal judge — prompted panic in communities across the country, including Miami-Dade, where local government officials, non-profit leaders and grant writers scrambled to discern whether their programs would be hit. Organizations ranging from schools and child care service providers to cancer research programs and opioid addiction centers questioned whether a primary source of their funding would suddenly disappear.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike said their phones were ringing off the hook with concerned constituents asking for clarity over the new policy. But in her first briefing with reporters, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered little detail on the types of programs that would be spared.
“It is a temporary pause, and the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the federal funding that has been going out the door,” Leavitt said. “We will continue to provide that list as it comes to fruition, but OMB right now is focused on analyzing the federal government’s spending, which is exactly what the American people elected President Trump to do.”
The original OMB memo said that federal agencies “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.” But fallout from the original directive prompted a second memo from the office, stating the freeze would “not apply across the board” and would spare programs “that provide direct benefits to individuals.”
Still, confusion persisted throughout the day on Tuesday as to which programs would be considered as providing “direct” benefits. Health care community centers, Pell Grants, rural development projects, rental assistance for low-income families, school meals, job training, and space, ocean and energy research are just a handful of examples of the types of programs and organizations where federal funding provides benefits and employment to Americans.
In the briefing, Leavitt could not say whether the freeze would impact Medicaid services, which benefited roughly 72 million Americans last year. Medicaid portals were down across the country after the briefing, prompting Leavitt to tweet that the White House was “aware” of the outage.
“We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent,” she said. “We expect the portal will be back online shortly.”
A social media account run by the White House later said that pell grants, rental assistance, Medicaid and cancer research funding would remain protected.
By the end of the day, several states had grouped together to file a lawsuit against the administration to halt the funding freeze, including California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Delaware. The judge handling the case issued a “brief administrative stay” on the measure. Further deliberation is expected on Monday morning, according to multiple reports.
CONFUSION IN MIAMI
Government officials, non-profit leaders and more began to scramble Monday night when news of Trump’s directive on federal grants first emerged, given how widely federal money flows into local coffers.
Elaina Norlin, a coordinator for the Association for Southeastern Research Libraries, told the Miami Herald that she had been on the phone nonstop since the announcement. Her organization receives grants to support federally funded universities like Florida International University.
“We have general grants and have been talking throughout the day to see if we could withdraw our money before it freezes, but the agency we’re working with got the memo before us,” she said. “[They] were blindsided by the messaging.”
The legal team at Norlin’s organization said that they believe they will win their battle. The time it will take to do that, however, is unknown.
“There’s an enormous amount of uncertainty,” said Loreen Chant, CEO and president of the Health Foundation of South Florida, a local nonprofit. “The freeze will affect every aspect of our community, healthcare, childcare and beyond.”
Miami-Dade County government’s 2025 budget counts on more than $680 million in federal funds – roughly 5 percent of the $12.7 billion the county plans to spend through September.
That includes $92 million to fund the county’s Head Start early education program, $50 million for long-term housing for people experiencing homelessness, more than $100 million for the transit system and about $180 million for public housing.
Leavitt said in her briefing that Head Start funding would remain in place — one of only a handful of programs mentioned by the new press secretary in her answers to the press.
Miami-Dade reported $1 billion in cash in its last financial statement, giving the county the resources to cover temporary shortfalls in expected federal dollars and then replenish the local money once Washington aid resumes.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Tuesday it’s too early to predict the consequences of Trump’s freeze on federal funds but said county staff and lobbyists would be trying to free up the most vital dollars as quickly as possible.
“We’re just trying to sort it out,” she said. “We’re going to try and make the case for the funds that are crucial to the county.”
In remarks to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Levine Cava said her administration was racing to file paperwork related to pending funding amounts in order to beat the 5 p.m. deadline set by the federal Office of Management and Budget.
“We’re very concerned about this announcement,” she said. Levine Cava, a Democrat, said the county’s federal funding is so broad, it’s hard to zero in on one area of concern. She cited Section 8 housing vouchers for people with low incomes. “How are people going to have rent payments made?” she asked.
The Chapman Partnership, one of Miami-Dade’s largest emergency homeless shelters, received nearly $1 million in federal grants last year. Much of that money went to placing shelter residents in permanent housing — helping them secure apartments by paying first and last month’s rents, as well as security deposits.
“Any potential delay or loss of funding impedes our ability to provide housing, support services and job opportunities for our clients,” Chapman Partnership CEO Scott Hansel said in an email to the Herald. Grant reductions stand to impact its ability to transition homeless residents into permanent housing, he said.
Ron Book, chairman of the Homeless Trust, Miami-Dade’s homeless services agency, said that federal grants are the organization’s largest source of revenue and make up nearly half of the Trust’s $100 million annual budget.
“We don’t yet know what the effect will be,” Book said.
Book is nonetheless confident that the Trust will be able to maintain its normal operations, for now at least. “We’re not pausing anything, we’re not stopping anything,” he said, adding that the Trust’s $16 million in reserves will be able to keep all of its federally funded programs online for at least 90 days. Those initiatives include long-term, extremely low-income housing, emergency shelters and initiatives to end youth homelessness.
This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O’Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 4:39 PM.
