The Trump administration ordered a halt to all federal grants and loans in a Jan. 27 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget, including those funding urban infrastructure. The memo “requires Federal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs,” including all activities associated with open notices of funding opportunities. The memo specifically excludes Medicare, Social Security and assistance provided directly to individuals.

In the document, Matthew Vaeth, acting director of OMB, ordered federal agencies to conduct a comprehensive analysis of all of such programs to identify those that may be implicated by any of the president’s executive orders. The pause goes into effect at 5 pm Eastern time tonight, blocking funding for urban infrastructure.

A coalition of states, including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, are expected to file suit today in the Southern District of New York to block the freeze, The New York Times reported.

One of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders concerning infrastructure spending has created uncertainty about the meaning and impact of the directive on cities and states.

On Jan. 20, an executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy” directed all federal agencies to stop disbursing funds appropriated through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or the Inflation Reduction Act.

However, the order’s wording was unclear to many, prompting the Office of Management and Budget to issue a memo limiting the directive to programs which the president terms as part of the “Green New Deal.” These include the $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program and the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program. These programs are designed to help build out the nation’s EV charging stations.

Section 2 of the Jan. 20 order also refers to energy exploration, rare earth minerals, gas stoves and “other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies,” the order states.

But the memo still left some with questions. “The White House’s memo update seems to be clear that they only want to apply the energy order to Section 2 [of the executive order],” said Yonah Freemark, research director of the Land Use Lab at Urban Institute, in an email. “That said, Section 2 feels pretty broad from my perspective, so it leaves a lot of room for interpretation.”

Read the full article about funding for urban infrastructure by Dan Zukowski at Smart Cities Dive.