An executive order on Tuesday by President Donald Trump freezing federal grants caused widespread confusion among those in Maine who rely on the funding, and prompted concerns at the federal level that Congress was unlawfully sidelined.
The order, which comes on the heels of a federal hiring freeze on Monday, is intended to allow the new administration to conduct an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives, including diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, said in a memo distributed Monday.
The extent of the funding freeze is not yet fully known, but it could affect programs ranging from heating assistance, housing and Medicaid to Head Start and Meals on Wheels.
On Tuesday evening, the Associated Press reported that a federal judge had blocked the funding freeze, but it was not immediately clear what impact the ruling by U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan would have in Maine.
Maine housing authority directors in Bangor and Portland found they were unable to withdraw operating funds on Tuesday afternoon.
Dan Brennan, director of MaineHousing, the state housing authority, said midafternoon Tuesday that all public housing authorities in Maine were facing the same issue. Funds for Section 8 rental assistance have not yet flowed to the public housing authorities, he said.
Without federal funding, Mike Myatt of Bangor said he doesn’t see how any public housing authority could last more than a couple of months. Construction of public housing across Maine will need to stop, and agencies will be unable to pay any bills, he said.
The lock-out happened shortly after the newly inaugurated President Trump announced a freeze on all federal grants and loans, a move that Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, decried as “far too sweeping” and one expected to impact trillions in government spending.
Sen. Angus King called Trump’s move “unconstitutional” at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning.
The website that states use to get Medicaid payments from the federal government went down on Tuesday, but it was unclear if it was related to the freeze. Trump’s new White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said states would still have their payments processed.
In a press briefing, Leavitt said beneficiaries of programs like Social Security and Medicare would not be affected, but she did not say Medicaid wouldn’t be affected.
The U.S. Health and Human Services agency doles out more than a half trillion dollars to states in a joint partnership to run Medicaid, the nation’s health care coverage for about 80 million of the poorest of Americans, including millions of children.
The Associated Press, and BDN writers Zara Norman, Leela Stockley and Bill Trotter contributed reporting.
