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Trump’s tried funding freeze stirs confusion and rebukes from WA leaders

WashingtonTrump’s tried funding freeze stirs confusion and rebukes from WA leaders

The Trump administration’s transfer to freeze swaths of federal spending drew backlash Tuesday from Washington’s Democratic leaders, because the state confronted the specter of both dropping or experiencing delays with billions of {dollars} constructed into its funds.

State lawmakers and different officers stated the state of affairs additional complicates this 12 months’s already troublesome budget-writing course of, whereas Gov. Bob Ferguson predicted that the courts would decide President Donald Trump is overstepping his government powers. Washington U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, the highest Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, derided Trump’s motion as “brazen and illegal.”

Later within the day, a federal decide within the District of Columbia agreed to briefly block the freeze not less than till Feb. 3. This got here in response to a lawsuit by the Nationwide Council of Nonprofits, the American Public Well being Affiliation, and different teams.

In the meantime, Washington Legal professional Basic Nick Brown introduced that the state joined 21 different states in a separate go well with in opposition to the Trump administration over the tried funding pause.

A lot concerning the scope and penalties of the directive remained unclear Tuesday afternoon. However critics stated it might stymie funding in a variety of areas, from baby care companies to highway building to opioid dependancy remedy packages.

“This chaos is already hurting people, causing confusion, and causing devastating delays. I mean where do we start here? There are a lot of urgent questions but precious few answers — and the answers keep changing,” Murray stated earlier on Tuesday.

It’s generally understood that Congress, not the president, holds “the power of the purse.” And Murray’s workplace emphasised that the Impoundment Management Act of 1974, “makes plain that presidents cannot temporarily or permanently withhold enacted funding, and it established procedures the president can and must follow to propose delaying or rescinding funding.”

The drama started when a memo from the White Home Workplace of Administration and Price range emerged Monday calling for a “temporary pause” on federal company grants, loans and different monetary help. The memo stated it was not supposed to use to “assistance provided directly to individuals,” Social Safety, or Medicare, which offers well being care protection for older People.

“This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities,” the memo stated. “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars,” it added.

White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the pause wouldn’t apply to the Supplemental Vitamin Help Program, also called meals stamps, or welfare advantages. A further memo from the White Home stated Medicaid funds wouldn’t be disrupted, although there have been experiences Tuesday that Medicaid portals have been down in states throughout the nation.

The Washington State Well being Care Authority didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark concerning the standing of the state’s Medicaid portal. Medicaid is the federal government medical insurance program for individuals with low incomes.

Within the fiscal 12 months that ended June 30 final 12 months, federal funding accounted for about $27 billion, or roughly a 3rd, of Washington’s state funds, in accordance with the state’s Workplace of Monetary Administration. Nevertheless it’s unlikely that full quantity could be coated by the Trump administration memo. For example, about $13 billion got here within the type of Medicaid reimbursements.

‘We’re sorting all of it out’

State Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, who chairs the state Senate’s Methods and Means Committee, stated the tried funding pause added “another layer of uncertainty in the budgeting process, but one that we have virtually no control over.”

“It is very alarming, and we have to wait and see what happens,” Robinson added. “If federal funding goes away, we do not have the ability to backfill those dollars.”

Chapman-See supplied an analogous take, saying that if the federal authorities holds again the threatened funding, it could “drastically worsen Washington’s budget shortfall.”

“Pausing or terminating federal funds would necessarily entail cuts — likely drastic cuts — to key services provided by state agencies on which Washington residents depend,” Chapman-See stated.

Robinson flagged public faculties, greater training, housing and home violence companies as a number of the areas the place the state relies on federal funding.

Regardless of the White Home press secretary’s statements, the state Workplace of Monetary Administration stated that, based mostly on its interpretation, the memo did seem to halt federal funding for meals stamps, which amounted to greater than $1.9 billion in Washington within the 2024 fiscal 12 months.

The state workplace additionally flagged grants and different funding for particular training, foster care, college lunches, and roads as cash that gave the impression to be focused as nicely.

A spokesperson for the governor’s workplace didn’t reply to questions on whether or not any state companies skilled turmoil on Tuesday due to the Trump administration’s maneuver.

The state’s Division of Commerce and the Division of Social and Well being Companies each stated it was too early to understand how the motion by the Trump administration may have an effect on operations.

“We’re sorting it all out,” stated Penny Thomas, a Division of Commerce spokesperson.

Joel Ryan, government director of the affiliation in Washington that advocates for the Head Begin and Early Childhood Schooling and Help packages, stated the Trump administration memo “led to complete chaos as several Head Start programs prepared to close their doors” and fearful about making payroll.

The Workplace of Administration and Price range later stated Head Begin packages, which offer early studying companies and different helps to youngsters as much as age 5, weren’t coated by the pause, in accordance with Ryan.

“Even after that clarification, the payment portal remained down for several hours making federal funding inaccessible,” he stated. “We also continue to be concerned about other grant programs that impact young children like the child care food program which Head Start programs rely upon to serve healthy meals and snacks to low-income children.”

Federal funding in Washington

The state’s Workplace of Monetary Administration offered the next listing of packages as examples of spending that the Trump administration directive might reduce off.

All totals are approximate for the 2024 fiscal 12 months, which ended final June 30.

The circumstances surrounding the federal memo remained fluid on Tuesday. It’s not sure which packages it might in the end have an effect on or how a lot cash it might chop from state budgets if it does maintain up in courtroom.

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