The Trump administration’s back-and-forth messaging over the status of federal funding, which could also impact grant money used by biotechs and pharma companies, has sown confusion and uncertainty.
The White House’s Monday memo from the Office of Management and Budget initially paused federal financial assistance with broad language that put tens of thousands of programs at risk and left many unanswered questions. At first, it was unclear which grants were halted as a result of the two-page order, which sought to review federal spending for future cuts.
Just before the order was set to go into effect Tuesday evening, a federal judge halted the freeze. The next day, the White House sought to clarify which programs were intended to be affected, while the OMB rescinded the order.
Now, while federal assistance and grant…