A temporary freeze on federal grants, loans and other financial assistance for veterans programs put in place by the Trump administration was lifted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — A temporary freeze on federal grants, loans and other financial assistance for veterans programs announced Tuesday by the Trump administration was lifted overnight by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
VA programs and operations will continue uninterrupted, the VA said. Officials at the agency determined all 44 of its federal financial assistance programs are unaffected.
The freeze was scheduled to go into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday on federal money that pay for community-based health services for veterans, including for suicide prevention, homelessness prevention and nursing homes.
It was to allow for a review of spending to determine whether programs complied with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, according to the White House.
The Office of Management and Budget had sent a memo directing all federal agencies to pause federal assistance. Among the reasons that the memo cited for the pause was to end “radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing” and protect “women from gender ideology extremism.”
But Todd Hunter, acting VA secretary, said the freeze on federal funds “will have no impact on VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries.”
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans was among dozens of veterans advocacy organizations that protested the freeze immediately after it was announced.
Veterans programs at risk included 8,000 VA-funded beds at homeless shelters, and rental support for 150,000 veterans and their families, the coalition said.
Democratic lawmakers at a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday sharply criticized the freeze as undermining essential programs that Congress funded in areas that include homelessness prevention, suicide prevention and nursing home care for veterans.
“These funds must be freed immediately, or else veterans will be betrayed,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
