Extra: The Federal Funding Freeze

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

Slate Podcasts

News Commentary, Politics, Government, News

4.6 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Amicus is coming to you with an extra episode because of the five-alarm threat to the balance of power in the wake of Monday and Tuesday’s memos from the White House Office of Management and Budget freezing vast tranches of federal funding. As agencies, states, and nonprofits scramble to figure out if they can make payroll or even keep the lights on, a hugely significant legal battle is brewing over what, if any, actual restraint remains on this administration’s vision of presidential power. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Professor Stephen Vladeck of Georgetown University Law Center to understand the ramifications of a flimsy memo that threatens the very structure of government as we know it in the United States. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025 - by Steve Vladeck Want more Amicus? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes with exclusive legal analysis. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Amicus show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/amicusplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.6	Hi, I'm Dahlia Lithwick, and this is Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the Supreme Court.
0:43.7	And we are breaking the glass and coming to you in this extra Tuesday edition of the show because we are in a bona fide constitutional meltdown.
0:53.9	On Monday night, Donald Trump shut the lights off.
0:57.2	In a cryptic two-page memo, Matthew J. Vaith, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget,
1:06.1	instructed all federal agencies to, as of 5 p.m. on Tuesday, pause all agency grants and loans programs.
1:13.8	Per the memo, each agency must perform a comprehensive analysis to ensure its grant and loan programs do not run afoul of this brand new directive.
1:23.5	Quote, the use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and Green
1:29.7	New Deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve
1:35.4	the day-to-day lives of those we serve, end quote. This order sent shockwaves through a federal
1:42.1	government already staggered by the firing of a raft of
1:46.3	inspectors general, the dismissal of the prosecutors who worked on the January 6th and classified documents,
1:51.9	prosecutions against Trump, massive DOJ reassignments and placements on administrative leave,
1:57.8	a new ban on trans service members, the ousting of independent board members of
2:02.2	the National Labor Relations Board, and an ongoing immigration crackdown.
2:07.4	Yet, in the midst of what looks like, terrifying authoritarian collapse, the vaith memo signals
2:13.4	something that should send a chill through even those who used to claim that Trump was just
2:18.5	undertaking a kind of necessary reorganization of priorities. This is a DefCon power grab,
	...

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