Ohio Dems decry chaos of attempted Trump funding freeze
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Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio). Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Members of Ohio's congressional delegation are scrambling to track the potential statewide impacts of President Trump's attempted funding freeze that was halted by a judge.
Why it matters: Democratic leaders say the chaos and confusion of the order, relayed via an Office of Management and Budget memo, are precisely the point.
- Government agencies and nonprofits across Ohio are now in a state of uncertainty, if not peril, as they rapidly develop contingency plans for funding that they've received for decades in some cases.
The latest: U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan temporarily blocked the order minutes before it was to take effect Tuesday. The judge's administrative stay expires next Monday.
What they're saying: Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Akron), said in a press call Wednesday that Ohio's congressional leaders are gathering as much information from constituents as they can to put a human face on their contention that the freeze would be harmful.
- The call was one of a number organized by Democratic elected leaders across the country — the first mobilization of the Trump "resistance" since his inauguration.
Zoom in: Rep.Shontel Brown (D-Cleveland) said 21% of residents in her 11th district are living in poverty, along with 30% of children.
- "We need federally supported child care, federally supported community health care providers, education programs like Head Start," she said. "This is playing politics with people's lives.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) called the move "thoughtless" and a "deliberate attack on our nation's democracy" in a statement Tuesday.
- "The chaos and confusion it has caused is intentional and meant to divide us," she said.
Between the lines: The White House said in a follow-up memo Tuesday that the freeze would be limited to funding areas like DEI targeted by Trump's executive orders.
Yes, but: Sykes said a number of federally funded projects have equity components baked in, like the innerbelt bridge project in Akron that received $10 million in grant support earlier this month.
- The project is designed to reconnect communities displaced by the bridge's original construction in 1970, through what was a vibrant area in Central Akron home to many families of color.
- "I'm very concerned that we won't be able to deal with the massive concrete sitting in the middle of Akron," she said.