A flurry of political activity defined the past week, with events ranging from a halt of federal funding, several important hearings in the Senate and the politicization of a recent tragedy.
On Monday, Jan. 27, the Office of Management and Budget under the Trump administration issued a sweeping order to pause all grants, loans and other fundings, impacting numerous governmental programs and agencies, according to The New York Times. Signed into effect by acting director Matthew Vaeth, the order threatened to revoke as much as trillions of dollars across many sectors, including state and local governments, education, transportation, disaster relief and more, all institutions and programs whose federal funding indirectly benefit citizens. However, as the report specified, the freeze would not impact funding for Social Security and Medicare programs, which directly provide financial aid to its recipients.
Many Congresspeople and onlookers alike questioned if the President constitutionally possessed the power to suspend these finances that had been allocated by Congress. Some believed that in doing so, Trump was overstepping the limits of his executive authority. The ambiguity in the report only worked to sow uncertainty and panic among those who rely on government aid.
The order explicitly reflected President Trump’s political agenda while condemning any ideological opposition. It mandated that “Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance,” specifically those relating to “DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal.” The report also rebuked “Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies,” classifying any related activity as a “waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the unprecedented order was met with much uproar from both the affected programs and the public at large. Soon after its issuing, 22 state attorneys general filed suit and a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze, reported ABC News.
The Trump administration responded promptly to the backlash on Wednesday, Jan. 29 by issuing a memo formally rescinding the original order, according to BBC. In a press conference addressing the move, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt specified that the retraction only applied to the memo, but not the actual funding freeze itself.
“The President’s [Executive Orders] on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented,” she said.
Simultaneously unfolding last week were the Senate hearings for several of Trump’s cabinet picks, including those for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services Secretary, Kash Patel for FBI Director, and more.
Senators on the Health Committee conducted the hearing for Kennedy, battering the nominee with questions regarding his inconsistent statements concerning vaccine and abortion policy, according to The New York Times. In the hearing, Democrats generally cast doubt towards Kennedy, pointing to his previously established skepticism towards vaccines and his avoidance of naming his own personal stance on abortion, instead blanketly stating that his views align with President Trump’s. The Senate Finance Committee will decide whether or not to send the vote to the Senate floor for confirmation.
Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, faced questions from the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democratic Senators indicated concern towards Patel’s expressed allegiance to the President, as well as the nominee’s previously documented calls for “punishment” for those opposed to Trump’s agenda, reported CNN. However, Patel did notably break from the President when he suggested his disapproval for Trump’s decision to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters.
“There can never be a tolerance for violence against law enforcement,” he said in the hearing.
Neither Kennedy nor Patel are expected to receive a single vote from Democratic senators. Thus, their confirmations would require a united Republican front.
Tragedy stunned the nation last Wednesday night when a passenger plane and a U.S. Army helicopter crashed midair above the Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. Of the 64 passengers on the American Airlines flight outbound from Wichita, Kansas and the three pilots navigating the Black Hawk aircraft, officials reported there were no survivors as they worked to recover the bodies from the Potomac river, reported CNN.
Recently confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth addressed the situation.
“A mistake was made,” he said in a press conference soon after Wednesday night.
The devastation quickly became politicized and manipulated into a bipartisan issue by Trump, who blamed the incident on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion efforts). In his initial response to the event, Trump placed blame on the Department of Transportation’s policies and management as installed by the Biden administration.
“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system…Only the highest aptitude…We had that,” he said on Thursday.
About former Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig, Trump said, “He’s run [the Department] right into the ground with his diversity [policies].”
No evidence exists which supports the President’s claims that DEI initiatives contributed to the collision.
The past week’s events highlight the intense political climate that have characterized the first few weeks of Trump’s return to presidential office. The controversial funding freeze, contentious Senate hearings and the President’s politicized response to a recent tragedy underscore the deep divisions currently shaping the nation’s politics. The country will watch as these developments continue to play out and their long-term repercussions are realized.
