UPDATE (1/29/25): On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget rescinded a memo to pause federal assistance, which was facing challenges in court. Later, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a post on X that only the memo calling for the freeze had been rescinded, but that the president’s executive orders, which informed the memo, “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
A memo from the Trump administration ordering a freeze on all federal grants on Monday night could affect food and health care programs that serve low income San Franciscans, older adults and people with disabilities, among other programs. The order was slated to take effect Tuesday, but that same day a federal judge paused part of the order related to existing programs until Feb. 3. In the meantime, local and state agencies are scrambling to figure out what programs will be affected.
Meals on Wheels San Francisco, a nonprofit that provides home-delivered meals for about 3,500 older adults in the city annually, will continue to distribute food to older adults uninterrupted, but if its grants are frozen, the organization could lose $3 million each year and would have to make that up elsewhere, said CEO Jennifer Steele.
“That’s a huge cliff to fall off of,” she said. “So we’re trying to figure out how we can mobilize to make that up, if we needed to in the short term.”
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Meals on Wheels San Francisco has been in contact with city and state officials trying to figure out what the order means and what its impact will be. The group, along with other San Francisco food providers, has faced a loss of funding in recent months.
Even deciphering if its funding is included in the freeze is proving to be “exceedingly difficult,” Steele said. “The President’s executive orders were fairly broad and the memo was fairly brief.”
The memo also stoked fears about potential disruptions to funding for programs like Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, which provides health insurance to low-income Californians. The order may also affect CalFresh, the program colloquially known as food stamps.
Medicaid payment reimbursement portals were down for several hours on Tuesday. After initial confusion, the federal Office of Management and Budget said that the freeze is not supposed to affect services that provide “direct benefits to individuals,” including Medicaid and food stamps, the Washington Post reported. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said systems should be back online shortly.
The California Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal, was reviewing the memo as of Tuesday afternoon and is “working with our federal counterparts to receive clarity,” wrote Anthony Cava, a media relations manager at the department, in an email. “While this is a fluid situation, we remain confident in our ability to continue serving Californians.”
Jason Montiel, a spokesperson with the California Department of Social Services, which oversees CalFresh and programs like the Emergency Food Assistance Program, said that agency is also seeking clarity about the order.
The San Francisco Human Services Agency did not respond to questions.
Ripple effects
Even if funding is not cut, the confusion the order caused and time it takes to sort out is “incredibly disruptive” to organizations like Meals on Wheels San Francisco.
It’s also terrifying for the people who depend on it, she said, as without meal support, many older adults would be choosing between rent and food, or medication and food.
“If those supports that they may be receiving in other areas of their life are threatened or paused even, it can have a ripple effect on their individual well being but also at a community level,” Steele said, adding that people’s lives depend on this aid.
Programs already struggling to meet needs
Food assistance organizations around the Bay Area have been struggling to meet residents’ needs even without the threat of cuts. The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank joined other Bay Area food groups in December to “sound the alarm,” said Leslie Bacho, CEO of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. Bacho told CBS News that even now, available support is not keeping up with demand.
Trump proposed funding cuts for Meals on Wheels, among other programs, when he first entered office in 2017, a move the organization denounced. However, Steele said she believes the cuts were not implemented.
Editor’s Note (1/29/25): This story has been corrected to specify that the memo ordering the freeze was issued by an office in the Trump administration.