WASHINGTON (TNND) — An order from President Donald Trump to pause federal aid and grants to programs around the country sparked mass confusion for a variety of programs relying on the money.

A Monday night memo from the Office of Management and Budget called for a blanket temporary pause to federal grant and loan programs starting Tuesday evening, with Social Security and Medicare excluded from the pause.

The memo read in part, "The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve."

Multiple lawmakers reported they were getting calls to their offices wondering what the pause meant for a variety of nonprofits and government-funded programs. Democrats were outraged.

“In an instant, Donald Trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions of dollars that directly support states, cities, towns, schools hospitals, small businesses, and most of all American families," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-Senate Minority Leader, said at a Tuesday press conference.

The White House and OMB clarified the pause Tuesday afternoon giving more specifics about what was impacted. "Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused," according to OMB, and SNAP benefits also wouldn’t be paused.

The reason for this is to make sure every penny that is going out the door is not conflicting with the executive orders and actions this President has already taken. What does it mean? No more funding for illegal DEI programs, it means no more funding for the green new scam," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Congress determines how taxpayer money is spent and multiple organizations rely on it to operate. Some Republicans backed the move as standard for a new administration.

"I suspect what's happening is something most Republicans would be supportive of. Again, a lot of these programs are not things that we agreed with, that we voted for originally," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma.

Democrats hammered the move and questioned its legality.

“No one voted to wake up this morning and wonder whether their child would get the care they need, wondered whether or not their parents would be kicked out of a nursing home," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.

A coalition of nonprofit and health groups have already filed a lawsuit looking to stop the temporary pause, saying even a short pause of funding could have devastating impacts. The complaint requested a temporary restraining order to keep the order from taking effect.

OMB provided this Q&A with more details on the pause:

In implementing President Trump’s Executive Orders, OMB issued guidance requesting that agencies temporarily pause, to the extent permitted by law, grant, loan or federal financial assistance programs that are implicated by the President’s Executive Orders.

Any program not implicated by the President’s Executive Orders is not subject to the pause

The Executive Orders listed in the guidance are:

• Protecting the American People Against Invasion
• Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid
• Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements
• Unleashing American Energy
• Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
• Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
• Enforcing the Hyde Amendment
• Any program that provides direct benefits to individuals is not subject to the pause.

The guidance establishes a process for agencies to work with OMB to determine quickly whether any program is inconsistent with the President’s Executive Orders. A pause could be as short as day. In fact, OMB has worked with agencies and has already approved many programs to continue even before the pause has gone into effect.

Any payment required by law to be paid will be paid without interruption or delay.

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.

Q: Is the pause of federal financial assistance an impoundment?

A: No, it is not an impoundment under the Impoundment Control Act. It is a temporary pause to give agencies time to ensure that financial assistance conforms to the policies set out in the President’s Executive Orders, to the extent permitted by law.

Temporary pauses are a necessary part of program implementation that have been ordered by past presidents to ensure that programs are being executed and funds spent in accordance with a new President’s policies and do not constitute impoundments.

Q: Why was this pause necessary?

A: To act as faithful stewards of taxpayer money, new administrations must review federal programs to ensure that they are being executed in accordance with the law and the new President’s policies.