President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
In his first few days in office, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders freezing the funding to several vital federal programs, and proposed a series of budget cuts for Congress to consider. While reducing waste in government is popular with the voters, recent proposals are so broad that there is a danger they will harm the working class residents who make up the Trump base, by cutting programs they depend on.
On Jan. 27, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing all federal agencies to temporarily pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
The order was so broad that most agency heads simply froze all funding without regard to specific programs. Several nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit, and on Jan. 28, U.S. District Judge Loren L. Alikhan issued a stay blocking the funding freeze, pending a hearing.
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The administration responded by rescinding the original order, but left in place orders for department heads to review all funding within their agencies to make sure they align with Trump’s priorities, without giving specifics about future distribution of funds.
Around the same time as the executive orders were given, billionaire Trump-supporter Elon Musk formed the Department of Government Efficiency, (DOGE), a group of Musk associates, primarily from tech industries, to audit government agencies for waste. Given that Musk is very close to Trump, recommendations from DOGE carry a lot of weight.
Although only Congress has the constitutional authority to write the federal budget, and they have not voted on any of the administration’s budget requests yet, the actions of the administration have already had a direct effect on federal funding recipients. With all the uncertainty around administrative actions, some department heads have paused distribution of any funds until they can get clear instructions.
For example, many community health centers around the country have had to temporarily close as they have not been able to draw down funds, denying healthcare to the poor. Clinical pharmaceutical trials have been frozen in some states, denying medication to recipients and delaying physician appointments.
While the the funding pauses have been piecemeal so far, many advocates for the poor and working class are more concerned with DOGE recommendations going to Congress. They are worried that across the board funding cuts could reduce benefits such as Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and Social Security to their constituents. Lack of transparency from the DOGE group has led some to assume the worst. Acros- the-board cuts could affect funding for highways, bridges, hurricane protection, and disaster relief.
Red states generally depend on federal funding more than blue states, because of their rural and working class demographics. Many also tend to be located in areas prone to disasters.
According to a Pew Research Center analysis of the most recently available U.S. Census data, Louisiana receives a larger percentage of its operating budget from federal funding than any other state, at about 50%. It is followed by Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Missouri. All red states, with the exception of Arizona, which is a swing state.
Regardless of the final plans in terms of budget cuts, Gov. Jeff Landry and the Louisiana congressional delegation should use their relationship with the Trump administration to get clarity and specifics from the executive orders on budget matters. We also need more transparency from Musk and his DOGE associates on what cuts they are proposing. And we need Landry, Steve Scalise, and Mike Johnson, to protect the state from any adverse effects of budget cuts.
There are several hurricane protection projects still awaiting federal funding. As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of Katrina later this year, we can celebrate that we have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go. While almost all taxpayers support the elimination of actual documented government waste, now is not the time to sacrifice hurricane protection, or benefits to vulnerable populations, on the altar of political popularity.
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This article first appeared on Verite News New Orleans and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.