Federal Funding Freeze Update

A few notes on protecting federal funds that are vital to children and families in Arizona:

1. Over the last two days, the federal government, through Office of Budget Management (OMB) Memorandum M-25-13, directed state agencies to review all federal grants and to temporarily freeze disbursement of federal funds. This action created alarming questions and concern about what was to be included or not included. By the afternoon, OMB provided clarity on some key funding exceptions. Litigation quickly occurred, and a judge intervened to delay implementation of the memo through, at least, Monday, February 3, 2025. 
2. Today, OMB Memorandum M-25-13 is rescinded. In fact, those are the exact words used in a short memo from OMB dated today. 
3. While it is a positive development that the memo is rescinded, serious questions and concern remain about the risk to services critical to children and families that would disappear without federal funding. A full-scale review of federal grants and payments continues to proceed. CAA is collecting stories to shine a light on the impact in Arizona, and you can share the impact to you or your organization to help us to do this. 
4. There are threats to vital services for children and families that existed before this week’s memos and that continue to loom. Drastic cuts to Medicaid (the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System or AHCCCS) that are being discussed in Congress would take away health care from hundreds of thousands of Arizonans and destabilize our state’s health care system. Similarly, cuts to the State Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) would increase child hunger. These are preliminary proposals for now and CAA is working every day with partners to prevent them from gaining support. 

We will continue to work to keep you informed. Our collaboration with you and all of our partners is key to policy decisions that work for children and families – not against them.