FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, February 21, 2025
PRESS CONTACT:
nicole@focalpointstrategygroup.com
Washington, D.C. — President Trump’s executive order halting all federal grants and loan disbursements continues to have widespread, tangible consequences for Americans in both red and blue states. Defying court orders, Trump’s actions are a direct affront to the constitutional balance of power, leaving everyday citizens to bear the brunt of his overreach.
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the “power of the purse,” entrusting it with the responsibility to determine how taxpayer dollars are spent; the appropriations laws duly enacted by Congress compel the Administration to faithfully execute them. Trump, however, has shown a disregard for this constitutional principle, asserting that his will supersedes that of the American people.
Congressional Republicans must stand against President Trump’s blatant overreach, not only for the well-being of their constituents but to protect the very foundation of our system of checks and balances.
Here’s the latest on the impacts of Trump’s federal funding freeze:
Trump’s Funding Freeze Halted Reimbursement for Religious Charities
Catholic News Agency: “Local Catholic Charities agencies across the country are being forced to lay off staff and weigh shutting down programs in the wake of the Trump administration’s 90-day federal funding freeze. […] According to Holmes, the freeze suspended nearly $500,000 in expected reimbursements from the federal government. The move, she said, was ‘unprecedented.’”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Halted Funding to Tribes
ICT News: “Nearly every tribe in Indian Country relies at least in part on the transformational self-determination act, known as Public Law 638. It helps fund essential services such as hospitals, health clinics, education, climate projects, agriculture, law enforcement, firefighting and other programs under the United States’ trust and treaty obligations. […] Most tribes, however, also have opted to receive some direct federal funding for projects or services, which allows them to receive funds from the U.S. government while still having tribal oversight of the programs. Both of those options, however, have been upended since Trump was sworn in on Jan. 20.”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Continues to Halt Reimbursements for Farmers
MSNBC: “The freeze has most immediately impacted federal conservation and voluntary climate-smart agriculture projects. Across the country, farmers have been left in limbo after making sustainability investments, trusting that the government would uphold its commitments.”
Tennessee Lookout: “In his first month in office, President Donald Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders to pause or cancel federal funding on a range of programs and grants — some of which go directly to farmers. Even though the administration said it would not stop payments to individuals and courts have ordered the administration to resume the programs, many farmers are awaiting payments on their contracts and have not been told when or if they can expect to receive expected funding. Billions of dollars are at stake.”
News Center Maine: “A sustainable farm in Freeport is feeling the effects of President Donald Trump’s recent federal funding freeze, which has put a hold on grants and other payments while they undergo review. Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, a nonprofit working to support sustainable farming practices nationwide, says it has not received its latest installment of federal grant money amounting to more than $300,000, because of the freeze.”
CBS News: “Minnesota farmers say they are in a valley of uncertainty amid the layoffs and cost-cutting measures of the first few weeks of President Trump’s second term.”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Has Halted Funds for Small Businesses
CAP Radio: “California’s small businesses — employers to more than half the state’s workforce — are staring down what some owners, experts and advocates say could be immense negative consequences from President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders. […] The freeze, imposed on Jan. 27, affected hundreds of billions of dollars for thousands of federal programs, including many aimed at small businesses. After states including California filed suit, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order putting the freeze on hold. Since then there has been more legal wrangling, including a court order stating that Trump failed to comply with the initial ruling.”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Threatens Nonprofit Efforts
STATNews: “For Nancy Hastings, the face of the federal government is the young man who picks her up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:45 a.m. to drive her to dialysis. She’s 86, and frail, and he stands behind her in the smoky half-light as she maneuvers down her front stairs. […] Then suddenly, in late January, word came that he was gone. With the Trump administration’s spending freeze, the five-person nonprofit where he’d worked didn’t have money to keep paying everyone, and he was among the three workers laid off.”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Has Halted Funding for Head Start Programs, Threatening the Livelihoods of Child Care Providers
Boise State Public Radio: “At the end of January, President Donald Trump’s new administration put a freeze on federal grants; then some of the money was restored, and now the move is tied up in federal court. Some of that money goes to help families and kids through Head Start. The freeze hit programs in 23 states, including Idaho. One [Head] Start program, which helps families in places like Nampa, Weiser, Wilder and Donnelly, couldn’t get the money in their bank account and found its money frozen.”
FastCompany: “The Trump administration later clarified that certain programs—including Head Start—would be exempt from the freeze, and Trump’s proposal was rescinded just days later. But the damage had already been done: Even a week later, there were reports that childcare providers could not access federal funds that they desperately needed to cover payroll and continue providing care to families. The National Head Start Association found that at least 45 providers could not access federal funds, potentially compromising care for nearly 20,000 children and families.”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Has Placed Energy Projects on Pause, Primarily in Disadvantaged or Minority Communities
KXLY: “For example, this past week, $156 million in federal money going to provide solar energy for individual Washington homes and buildings has been frozen, then unfrozen and then frozen again, said Joe Nguyen, director of the state’s commerce department.”
NBC10 Boston: “Massachusetts can’t access more than $165 million in federal funding, much of it for a solar energy program meant to provide cheaper, greener energy for low-income and disadvantaged households, according to the Healey administration.”
The Bulletin: “Oregon was promised $52 million for new chargers. But a Feb. 6 memo from the Federal Highway Administration told states it was pausing the program to make sure it complied with new priorities from the Trump Administration.”
NPR: “In Colorado, the federal funding freeze has hit projects from a brownfield cleanup in Pueblo to ‘once in a lifetime’ funding for solar projects in Native communities. […] Pueblo formally accepted their grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in January. Then less than a day later, the city got an email saying their funding was frozen. Broadhead said it felt like whiplash.”
Trump’s Funding Freeze Has Halted Reimbursements and Prevention Efforts for Disaster Relief
Reuters: “The Trump administration has halted funding for federal programs to reduce wildfire risk in western U.S. states and has frozen hiring of seasonal firefighters as part of broad cuts to government spending, according to organizations impacted by the moves. The reduction in resources for wildfire prevention comes a month after devastating blazes in Los Angeles that are expected to be the costliest in U.S. history, with some expecting losses as high as $35 billion.”
NC Newsline: “MDC, a nonprofit in Durham, North Carolina, along with the Hispanic Federation, was supposed to receive a $3 million environmental justice community change grant for disaster recovery and resilience programs in Latino areas of eastern North Carolina.”
For more on President Trump’s unconstitutional federal funding freeze, CIP Checks and Balances War Room has launched ImpoundmentReport.com to track news from across the country, post expert research and reports to help Congressional staff, journalists, and allies understand what impoundment is, why it’s unconstitutional, and what Congress is doing about it.