State officials are trying to understand the potentially sweeping statewide impact of a vague and expansive memo from President Donald Trump’s administration, which requires federal agencies to freeze some financial assistance going to states. So far, Vermont officials have more questions than answers.
The memo, issued Monday by Matthew Vaeth, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, is short: two pages long. It orders federal agencies to “temporarily pause” all financial assistance “and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by (Trump’s) executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
It is set to take effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. In fiscal year 2024, out of $10 trillion in federal spending, $3 trillion was allocated for the kind of financial assistance that will receive scrutiny from federal officials under the directive, Vaeth wrote.
Sarah Clark, secretary of the state’s Agency of Administration, said Tuesday that she doesn’t know yet what kind of impact the freeze could have on Vermont. The state receives federal funding for everything from Vermonters’ food and rental assistance to clean water initiatives to school lunch programs.
“There is a lot that is coming at us from the federal government, but we really are prioritizing focusing on Vermont and making sure we understand what any sort of federal directive, what that impact will be on Vermont, before we react,” she said.
Who could it impact?
On Tuesday afternoon, Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said during a press briefing that the freeze “is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump administration.”
It will not include “Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits, assistance that is going directly to individuals,” she said.
The funding freeze also does not apply to student loans or Pell grants, according to the New York Times.
“So what does this pause mean?” Leavitt told reporters. “It means no more funding for illegal DEI programs. It means no more funding for the green new scam that has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. It means no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness across our federal bureaucracy and agencies. No more funding for Green New Deal social engineering policies.”
Leavitt did not say how long the freeze would last. In his memo, Vaeth states that agencies should report their analyses of “programs, projects or activities subject to this pause” by no later than February 10.
Asked whether it would impact Meals on Wheels, Head Start or disaster aid, Leavitt responded that it would “not affect individual assistance that’s going to Americans.”
Meanwhile, Vermont’s congressional delegation blasted the Trump administration over the memo in statements to the press.
Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said the freeze “hurts every community across Vermont, and in every state,” and added that it could impact “funding for disaster relief, fire departments, child care, food assistance, farms and so much more.”
“It means preschools unsure if they have the funds to operate, disaster victims unable to rebuild, and grants to research cancer are suspended,” she said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the move would “have a devastating impact on the health and well-being of millions of children, seniors on fixed incomes, and the most vulnerable people in our country” and called it “a dangerous move towards authoritarianism” and “blatantly unconstitutional.”
In a joint statement issued during Leavitt’s remarks, Sanders, Balint and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said the “unconstitutional action” could impact thousands of Vermonters. Roughly 1,200 Vermont kids participate in Head Start programs, for example, and “more than 10,000 women, infants, and children in Vermont” use WIC to keep from going hungry. It could impact “countless Vermont communities that are still recovering from devastating floods” and “Vermont firefighters and police officers who put their lives on the line to keep us safe.”
“No president has the right to choose which laws to follow and which laws to ignore,” their statement said. “Donald Trump is endangering the health and well-being of Vermonters. We will do everything in our power to see that it is reversed.”
Legal challenges
States including California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island have announced plans to sue the administration over the memo, according to the New York Times.
Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus professor at Vermont Law and Graduate School, said the president of the United States “does not have the authority to impound funds appropriated by Congress, full stop.”
To do so would be a violation of the separation of powers, he said: the president can’t cancel funds that Congress has already decided to spend.
Additionally, Congress enacted a law that prohibits presidents from “unilaterally impounding funds,” Parenteau said.
That means that anyone who is entitled to funds that have been authorized by Congress could have standing to sue, including cities, states, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals, he said.
“What happens in the meantime? I mean, those are all awful, awful questions,” he said.
Parenteau said the memo was both broad and vague, making it hard to understand how it could be felt on the ground.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “How can we possibly comprehend this?”
Shaun Robinson contributed reporting.
This story will be updated.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Trump’s federal funding freeze sends Vermont officials looking for answers.