Cities and counties are still awaiting the release of federal funds that have been held up since a Jan. 27 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget ordering all federal agencies to pause disbursement of grants, loans and other financial assistance programs.
An estimated $3 trillion in such funds were frozen as a result of the memorandum, and nonprofits and government officials have reported that billions of dollars or more have not been disbursed despite injunctions against the funding freeze from federal judges in Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
“The president has issued rapid-fire executive orders and memoranda in the last two months that have put millions of dollars and now tens of thousands of jobs and of projects at risk because of funding freezes,” said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), speaking at the National League of Cities’ Congressional City Conference in the district on March 11. “These actions have sown chaos and delays.”
Athens, Ohio, mayor and NLC President Steve Patterson gave one example of the disruption: Electric vehicle charging stations planned along a highway between Athens and Dayton, Ohio. “We were under contract,” Patterson said during a March 10 press event at the conference. “Now we have to explain to people that we're in a holding pattern until this [funding] frees up and we are able to deploy something that is vitally needed for anyone who has an EV.”
Clarence Anthony, CEO and executive director of the NLC, added, “We need to talk about the story of loss of jobs that may occur. We need to talk about the fact that infrastructure is a priority for America.”
Savannah, Georgia, Mayor Van Johnson, echoed that sentiment. “Investments in cities, towns and villages are investments to the future of our country. Every federal dollar directed locally is a multiplier for our states and for our country,” he said March 10 at the conference.
The pause in funding has already affected programs such as Meals on Wheels, child care and after-school programs, said Jessica Mendieta, policy associate at the National Council for Nonprofits, at the conference Monday. She urged grant recipients to monitor events at the state and federal levels and to begin talking about solutions in the absence of expected funds.
Rep. Larsen said he communicated the challenges cities are having to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and urged him to “lean into” getting these projects out the door. Larsen said he expects that projects with signed grant agreements will go forward, but awards that haven’t yet signed such agreements are most at risk.
