Local leaders react to halt of funding freeze
Trump White House rescinds memo freezing federal money after widespread confusion.
Trump White House rescinds memo freezing federal money after widespread confusion.
Local elected officials have differing opinions on a move by the Trump administration to halt federal funding to state and local governments.
The order made by the White House Office of Management and Budget was announced on Monday, then it was temporarily blocked Tuesday by a federal judge minutes before it was scheduled to take effect.
President Donald Trump’s budget office on Wednesday rescinded a memo freezing spending on federal loans and grants, less than two days after it sparked widespread confusion and legal challenges across the country.
The memo, which was issued Monday by the Office of Management and Budget, had frightened states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.
Administration officials insisted that despite the confusion, their actions still had the intended effect by underscoring to federal agencies their obligations to abide by Trump’s executive orders.
“The Executive Orders issued by the President on funding reviews remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented by all agencies and departments,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, blaming the confusion on the courts and news outlets, not the administration. “This action should effectively end the court case and allow the government to focus on enforcing the President’s orders on controlling federal spending.” Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi appreciated that the Trump administration reassessed the funding freeze.
“Well, I am certainly glad that decision came about, because it really puts a lot of people’s health and welfare at risk,” Maggi said. “A lot of these programs that we provide were at risk, and I’m glad to see they’ll continue to be funded, at least for the time being.”
Before the order was rescinded, the Washington County Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman said he didn’t foresee any negative effects from the federal funding freeze, but instead was concerned about cuts made to aging services by Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2024.
“Looking at the potential cuts that are being made, you know, I’m not really seeing how this will affect the county in any kind of negative way,” Sherman said. “I’m not sure what the potential cuts are going to be with the federal government, but I could tell you that we’re already playing some catch up, and we’re moving money around to see how we continue to provide services to our senior citizens in Washington County because of the governor’s cut to state funding for the Department of Aging.”
Maggi shared a differing opinion, saying that the county was dependent on federal funding, including for aging services.
“We have an over $250 million budget and we bring in around $42 million in taxes,” Maggi said. “So the bulk of our budget comes in through federal and state grants, pass throughs, so we’re very dependent on a state and federal government for all these mandated programs that we have to do.”
Maggi said he would expect the county to struggle with aging and youth/children services if a freeze was implemented. He added that it could affect money received for the Washington County Correctional Facility.
He shared concern for Blueprints, a nonprofit organization housed in Washington Pa., that helps families with services like Head Start, rental assistance, career development, foster care and adoption. The nonprofit serves residents in Greene and Washington counties, and communities in West Virginia.
Maggi, who sits on the Blueprints board, said the organization heavily relies on federal and state funds to operate.
“It’s totally dependent on the federal government and the state, and we’re really scrambling,” Maggi said. “Because we provide Head Start programs for preschool children, we provide child care, we provide meals for some of these disadvantaged kids, and we’re scrambling. If that holds up, we don’t know what we’ll do.”
Ashley Seman, the Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority executive director, said they receive both federal and state funding but had no confirmation that they would have been impacted by the funding freeze.
“We have not received any indication that we will be impacted, so we’ll have to wait and see if we get something formal from the FTA (Federal Transit Authority), but as of right now, we have not heard anything,” Seman said.
After it was announced the order was rescinded, Gov. Shapiro shared his thoughts on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“The chaos and confusion the White House caused for millions of Americans yesterday was reckless and unnecessary,” Shapiro said on X. “Pro tip: Next time, the administration should do its homework instead of shutting down critical payment systems and threatening the loss of services for veterans, seniors, and kids.”
The move would have created a disastrous effect on local budgets, future economic development initiatives and other government services, Democratic officials said before the order was rescinded.
“It’s horrible public policy and utterly and completely thoughtless. It puts county residents at risk,” said Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas, a Democrat. “Government spending needs analyzed, but it makes no sense to just stop it. Do the analysis first, just don’t put people’s lives at risk to make a headline.”
About 7% of Westmoreland County’s $416.8 million in revenue comes directly through federal grants.
County Finance Director Meghan McCandless said the county receives $28 million in direct federal funding that is used to pay for behavioral health services, programs for elderly residents, foster care and domestic relations department operations and housing needs.
Of that, the county receives about $12.5 million for its housing voucher program (private rental assistance) that comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That money will not be impacted by freeze, leaving about $15.5 million that’s to be frozen.
Westmoreland County Commissioner Doug Chew, a Republican, said before the order was rescinded that he expected the change in administrations would result in different funding priorities, but he suspects most of the federal dollars for key programs will continue.
The funding halt could have affected at least $500 million budgeted for programs in Allegheny County, according to initial estimates cited by spokeswoman Abigail Gardner.
“As we currently understand it, this will freeze or cut public safety dollars for victims of violent crimes, sexual assault and domestic violence, and a bulletproof vest grant,” Gardner said. “It cuts public health programs for maternal and infant health, clean air, childhood lead programs and more.”
TribLive and the Associated Press contributed to this story.