Order to pause federal funding creates confusion, questioned by Detroit school superintendent | FOX 2 Detroit

Order to pause federal funding creates confusion, questioned by Detroit school superintendent

Less than a day after signing an executive order to pause all federal funding, the White House rescinded the directive, which caused mass confusion about who would be losing funding and what programs would be affected.

Before rescinding the order, a federal judge paused the action after lawsuits poured in amid the uncertainty.

Local perspective:

Among those with questions after the order was announced was Detroit Public School superintendent Dr. Nikolai Viti.

"How does ‘pausing’ federal funding for school meals for disadvantaged children or programming for special needs children make America great again?" he wrote on the social platform X. "Don't create chaos."

Detroit's schools weren't the only place impacted by the pause. Medicaid services went down after the executive order was announced. 

By the time the order was rescinded by President Donald Trump, many were left wondering what else may arrive - as well as why the executive office backed off the order.

"My hunch is that the administration did not like how many areas were being impacted," said Dave Dulio.

Dulio, a political science professor at Oakland University, isn't surprised by how things have played out, despite a flurry of activity in the first week of Trump's presidency.

"I don’t think anyone should be surprised," he said. "He’s doing exactly what he said he was going to do when he was running."

Related

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The federal funding freeze, issued by President Donald Trump, is scheduled to take effect Tuesday.

Big picture view:

There are larger questions being posed as well, including whether the president has the authority to control the financial strings that are normally leveraged by Congress.

That's called the "power of the purse" and falls under the legislative branch. But according to Dulio, presidents do have some sway in how they dictate funding.

"Presidents do have some (authority) and it's always the question is how far and where is the line, right?" said Dulio. "Presidents have some flexibility in how appropriated monies are spent."

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