Impact of Federal Funding Pause on E-Rate
Good morning E-Rate Community,
I’m sure you’ve likely heard, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo directing all federal agencies to pause making obligations or disbursements of all federal financial assistance as of 5:00 p.m. yesterday (1/28/2025).
Later in the day, OMB released a memo with clarifying questions and answers (listed below) that appeared to narrow the scope of its original memo. The Q and A stated that only certain funding is affected — programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President’s earlier Executive Orders that repeal DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest. OMB stated: “Any program not implicated by the President’s Executive Orders is not subject to the pause.”
- Q: Is this a freeze on all Federal financial assistance?
- A: No, the pause does not apply across-the-board. It is expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President’s Executive Orders, such as ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest.
- Q: Is this a freeze on benefits to Americans like SNAP or student loans?
- A: No, any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.
- Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused. If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the President’s Executive Orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments.
Just before 5:00 p.m. yesterday evening, a federal judge blocked the funding pause until Monday afternoon. The court will hear arguments on Monday to consider next steps.
Hopefully, by Monday, we will know with more certainty which programs are actual targets of the proposed funding pause and what this will mean for the impacted programs over the next several weeks, should the court allow the pause to continue.
I will keep you posted as we learn more. For now, it’s business as usual. Continue with your FY 2025 procurements, Form 472 BEAR filings, and Form 471 submissions.
Sincerely,
Lorrie
Lorrie Germann
State E-Rate Coordinator
On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education
lorrie.germann@education.ohio.gov
www.ohio-k12.help/erate
Office: 740-223-2420
Cell: 740-253-1153