On January 27, 2025, the Trump Administration, through the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), released a memorandum entitled, Temporary Pause of Agency Grant, Loan, and Other Financial Assistance Programs to the heads of executive departments and agencies. The OMB memo stated that “Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the [Trump Administration’s] executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal.” On January 28, 2025, OMB released guidance clarifying that the requirement to “temporarily pause” all activities was not a pause on all Federal financial assistance, but only for those implicated by executive orders issued by President Trump. 

However, minutes before the pause was to become effective, a U.S. District Judge in Washington, D.C. ordered an administrative stay, preventing the pause on funding until February 3, 2025, at 5 pm. On January 29, 2025, OMB rescinded the memorandum. However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt subsequently released a statement on the social media site X stating that this rescission did not apply to the funding freeze, only the OMB memo itself, and that the “President’s EO’s on federal funding remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented.” While the final status of which federal programs are under a funding freeze remains unclear, the court injunction is expected to prevent any freeze from taking place before February 3.

Impact on General Dentistry: The AGD will continue to monitor the status of this freeze and the potential impact on the general dentistry community and patients. Many federal grants, including grants through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that support improving access to dentistry and loan repayment, would likely be impacted by a freeze.