Latest news with #BudgetDepartment
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Unprogrammed appropriations slashed to P250 billion in proposed 2026 budget
Unprogrammed appropriations exist 'outside the approved government fiscal program, which serve as an important tool for the government to address unforeseen expenditures and prioritize essential programs and projects,' the DBM said. File photo The Marcos administration is reducing the amount as well as the share of unprogrammed appropriations or 'standby funds' in the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget next year. Based on the Fiscal Year 2026 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the budget level for unprogrammed appropriations amounts to P249.99 billion, slashed by 68.79% from the P363.42 billion level in the Fiscal Year 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), net of vetoed items at over P168 billion. The amount is equivalent to 3.68% of the proposed 2026 NEP, also lower than unprogrammed appropriations' 5.7% share in the 2025 GAA. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) defines unprogrammed appropriations as those that provide standby authority to incur additional agency obligations for priority programs or projects when revenue collection exceeds targets, and when additional grants or foreign funds are generated while appropriations with definite/identified funding as of the time the budget is prepared. In simple terms, unprogrammed appropriations are akin to planned household purchases that may only proceed if extra money is available, either from additional income, like bonuses or from loans. The unprogrammed appropriations were among the contentions in the controversial 2025 GAA amid allegations of insertions during the bicam—an issue which compelled both chambers of Congress to open the bicameral conference committee meetings to the public. During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay Forum on Thursday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman defended the practice of having standby funds or unprogrammed appropriations in the national budget. 'You know the unprogrammed [appropriations] it's a standby fund… marami din naman nagagawa 'yan [it can accomplish a lot],' Pangandaman said. The Budget chief cited that standby funds were tapped to finance the health emergency benefits of healthcare workers. The Budget Department had earlier explained that unprogrammed appropriations exist 'outside the approved government fiscal program, which serve as an important tool for the government to address unforeseen expenditures and prioritize essential programs and projects.' For her part, DBM Undersecretary Mary Anne dela Vega said the Budget Department maintains a 'ceratin percentage at least mga 5% of the total expenditure program' for the unprogrammed appropriations. 'We stick to our proposal that it should be 5% or lower of the total expenditure program,' dela Vega said during the news forum. The breakdown of the proposed P249.99- billion unprogrammed appropriations were as follows: Strengthening Assistance for Government Infrastructure and Social Programs - P80.86 billion Budgetary Support to Government-Owned and/or Controlled Corporations - P6.895 billion Support to Foreign-Assisted Projects - P97.3 billion Program on Risk Management - P3.6 billion Refund of the Service Development Fee for the Right to Develop the Nampeidai Property in Tokyo, Japan - P210.6 million Prior Years' LGU Shares - P14.62 million Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowance for Health Care and Non-Health Care Workers - P6.76 billion Revised AFP Modernization Program - P50 billion Fiscal Support Arrearages for Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy Program - P33.5 billion Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Program - P2 billion Comprehensive and Adequate Insurance Protection of Strategically Important Government Assets and Interest - P2 billion Pangandaman said the release of unprogrammed appropriations can be triggered by excess revenues, as certified by the Bureau of the Treasury, as well as additional foreign funds such as loans or grants. — BM, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's federal aid freeze sparks confusion and anxiety in Arizona: What to know
President Donald Trump set off a political whirlwind when his budget office released a memo announcing that some federal spending would be frozen the following day. The Monday announcement sparked chaos as state and local governments, nonprofits and other stakeholders tried to figure out what exactly would be on the chopping block. The funding pause was scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday afternoon, but was temporarily blocked until Monday by a federal judge. Though the order is temporarily on ice, uncertainty still swirls around which programs exactly will and won't be affected should the order go into effect. Though the orders didn't go into place, Tuesday saw some hiccups and interruptions in Arizona, with temporary outages to Medicaid and Head Start. Here's how the saga has played out so far, and what's next for Trump's proposed funding freeze. Trump and his allies have promoted the federal funding freeze as a way to make sure that U.S. government spending aligns with the mandate he campaigned on and began implementing since taking office. A memo penned Monday by the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget foregrounded hot-button issues such as gender, climate and socially progressive policies. 'The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,' the memo reads. It creates a roughly two-week window for the federal government to review and re-approve that spending. The funding freeze did not affect funding that is provided directly to individuals — such as Medicare and Social Security — but other details about its scope remained unclear. Initially the Budget Department circulated a memo requesting information on programs such as low-income economic assistance and food programs, Politico reported. In follow-up guidance released Tuesday, the office clarified that the freeze will only impact programs that are related to the flurry of executive orders Trump signed when he took office. Stakeholders said it was still hard to tell what exactly falls into that category. AGs speak out: Mayes, other state attorneys general sue over Trump halting federal aid Though the funding freeze was directed at programs affected by Trump's recent executive orders, Tuesday also brought interruptions to government operations which appeared to fall outside that scope. The online portals through which states receive federal Medicaid funding were down on Tuesday morning, despite guidance from the Trump administration that the program would 'continue without pause.' Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House was aware of website outages but said that Medicaid payments were still flowing. Christian Slater, a spokesperson for Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, said that the state did not have access to federal Medicaid dollars, which fund about 70% of Arizona's Medicaid program, as the clock ticked toward the funding freeze deadline. The website was back up and running later that afternoon, he confirmed. White House officials told CBS News that the Medicaid outages were unrelated to the federal funding freeze. Head Start, a federal program that provides early child care for low-income families, also saw outages Tuesday despite assurances from OMB that it would not be affected. The program's grantees reported being locked out of the payment systems that they usually use to draw down grant funding. Kelley Murphy with the Arizona Early Childhood Alliance said "all hell broke loose" when OMB released its guidance, in part because there was no clear way to request an exemption from the funding freeze. It was unclear to her why the Head Start portal was blocked before the freeze was supposed to go into effect. National child care advocates told CNN they believe it was related to Trump's order. "All of this stuff is programs that impact young children," she said. "I am fearful that this will harm children in our state." What to know in Trump's Week 2: Immigration crackdown is starting In the hours before Trump's orders were put on ice, stakeholders were still trying to understand which programs exactly would be affected. U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, a Democrat who represents much of the East Valley, argued it would have "immediate and dangerous consequences in Arizona." Allison Childress, a Stanton spokesperson, said his office fielded concerns from around the district all day Tuesday. That included queries from from health centers, who were weighing whether they would need to furlough or lay off staff; a local homelessness organization that was unable to draw their monthly reimbursement from the federal government; business development groups who had paused their workforce development programs; and constituents who work on federally funded research at Arizona State University, Childress said. Allies of Trump argued the impacts of the funding freeze were exaggerated in the media. U.S. Rep. Eli Crane, a Republican who represents much of northeastern Arizona, accused Democrats of 'needlessly scaring hardworking Arizonans by perpetuating lies for raw political gain.' In an email Tuesday afternoon, the White House communications team accused the media of a 'Fake News Hoax.' They pointed to the OMB guidance released earlier that day which clarified that programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP were excluded from the pause in funding. Other government stakeholders preemptively took steps to prepare for the funding freeze — some of them going beyond what feds had warned them to do. Tom Horne, the Arizona superintendent of public instruction and a Republican, said he had received notice that the funding review wouldn't apply to "Title I" economically disadvantaged schools. 'Nevertheless,' he wrote, 'because there are many details yet to be clarified, as a contingency I have directed this department to draw down the funds needed during the two-week period covered by the federal pause.' This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump's federal aid freeze: After a day of chaos, what's next?
USA Today
29-01-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Trump's federal aid freeze sparks confusion and anxiety in Arizona: What to know
President Donald Trump set off a political whirlwind when his budget office released a memo announcing that some federal spending would be frozen the following day. The Monday announcement sparked chaos as state and local governments, nonprofits and other stakeholders tried to figure out what exactly would be on the chopping block. The funding pause was scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday afternoon, but was temporarily blocked until Monday by a federal judge. Though the order is temporarily on ice, uncertainty still swirls around which programs exactly will and won't be affected should the order go into effect. Though the orders didn't go into place, Tuesday saw some hiccups and interruptions in Arizona, with temporary outages to Medicaid and Head Start. Here's how the saga has played out so far, and what's next for Trump's proposed funding freeze. Why does Trump want to freeze federal aid? Trump and his allies have promoted the federal funding freeze as a way to make sure that U.S. government spending aligns with the mandate he campaigned on and began implementing since taking office. A memo penned Monday by the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget foregrounded hot-button issues such as gender, climate and socially progressive policies. 'The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,' the memo reads. It creates a roughly two-week window for the federal government to review and re-approve that spending. The funding freeze did not affect funding that is provided directly to individuals — such as Medicare and Social Security — but other details about its scope remained unclear. Initially the Budget Department circulated a memo requesting information on programs such as low-income economic assistance and food programs, Politico reported. In follow-up guidance released Tuesday, the office clarified that the freeze will only impact programs that are related to the flurry of executive orders Trump signed when he took office. Stakeholders said it was still hard to tell what exactly falls into that category. AGs speak out:Mayes, other state attorneys general sue over Trump halting federal aid Medicaid, Head Start saw disruptions, but won't be paused Though the funding freeze was directed at programs affected by Trump's recent executive orders, Tuesday also brought interruptions to government operations which appeared to fall outside that scope. The online portals through which states receive federal Medicaid funding were down on Tuesday morning, despite guidance from the Trump administration that the program would 'continue without pause.' Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House was aware of website outages but said that Medicaid payments were still flowing. Christian Slater, a spokesperson for Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, said that the state did not have access to federal Medicaid dollars, which fund about 70% of Arizona's Medicaid program, as the clock ticked toward the funding freeze deadline. The website was back up and running later that afternoon, he confirmed. White House officials told CBS News that the Medicaid outages were unrelated to the federal funding freeze. Head Start, a federal program that provides early child care for low-income families, also saw outages Tuesday despite assurances from OMB that it would not be affected. The program's grantees reported being locked out of the payment systems that they usually use to draw down grant funding. Kelley Murphy with the Arizona Early Childhood Alliance said "all hell broke loose" when OMB released its guidance, in part because there was no clear way to request an exemption from the funding freeze. It was unclear to her why the Head Start portal was blocked before the freeze was supposed to go into effect. National child care advocates told CNN they believe it was related to Trump's order. "All of this stuff is programs that impact young children," she said. "I am fearful that this will harm children in our state." What to know in Trump's Week 2:Immigration crackdown is starting How will the funding freeze impact Arizona? In the hours before Trump's orders were put on ice, stakeholders were still trying to understand which programs exactly would be affected. U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, a Democrat who represents much of the East Valley, argued it would have "immediate and dangerous consequences in Arizona." Allison Childress, a Stanton spokesperson, said his office fielded concerns from around the district all day Tuesday. That included queries from from health centers, who were weighing whether they would need to furlough or lay off staff; a local homelessness organization that was unable to draw their monthly reimbursement from the federal government; business development groups who had paused their workforce development programs; and constituents who work on federally funded research at Arizona State University, Childress said. Allies of Trump argued the impacts of the funding freeze were exaggerated in the media. U.S. Rep. Eli Crane, a Republican who represents much of northeastern Arizona, accused Democrats of 'needlessly scaring hardworking Arizonans by perpetuating lies for raw political gain.' In an email Tuesday afternoon, the White House communications team accused the media of a 'Fake News Hoax.' They pointed to the OMB guidance released earlier that day which clarified that programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP were excluded from the pause in funding. Arizona government stakeholders brace themselves Other government stakeholders preemptively took steps to prepare for the funding freeze — some of them going beyond what feds had warned them to do. Tom Horne, the Arizona superintendent of public instruction and a Republican, said he had received notice that the funding review wouldn't apply to "Title I" economically disadvantaged schools. 'Nevertheless,' he wrote, 'because there are many details yet to be clarified, as a contingency I have directed this department to draw down the funds needed during the two-week period covered by the federal pause.'
