Vermont Delegation Blasts Trump's Federal Funding Freeze

Updated at 5:33 p.m.

Vermont’s congressional delegation on Tuesday warned of a “dangerous move towards authoritarianism” after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered a wide-ranging freeze on federal grants, loans and other financial assistance.

The move, which was expected to go into effect at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, “will cause devastating harm to working families across Vermont,” a statement from U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said.

But shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, a federal judge issued a stay and blocked the freeze from taking effect. The judge’s order expires at 5 p.m. on Monday, February 3.

The Vermont delegation’s statement described the proposed pause as an “unconstitutional action” and said it would affect hundreds of thousands of Vermonters, including 1,200 kids in Head Start programs; tens of thousands of women, children and seniors who rely on food assistance, including Meals on Wheels; and 9,000 Vermonters who use Section 8 vouchers for housing.

“No president has the right to choose which laws to follow and which laws to ignore,” the 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.”

A memo about the freeze, issued by the Office of Management and Budget, said “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.” It continued: “This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark told Seven Days that she and a coalition of top prosecutors in Democratic states were preparing a lawsuit against the order.

“We have been working for months in dread, preparing for a potential Trump presidency,” Clark said. “We were ready for this, and, sadly, we’ll be ready for the next violation of the constitution or federal law.”

The sweeping order created immediate confusion for Vermont nonprofits, universities and other programs that receive federal funding.

Molly Gray, executive director of the Vermont Afghan Alliance — a nonprofit supporting more than 500 Afghans who have been resettled in Vermont — sent out a plea for donations on Tuesday. The freeze, according to Gray, would block access to federal funding meant to run a drivers’ education program for Afghans.

“These services are not about ‘Marxist equity’ or ‘wokeness’ as the White House memorandum absurdly suggests, but rather basic commitments to individuals who came to this country for a better life,” Gray said in a statement.

Trainees in the Trailblazers program Credit: Courtesy of Vermont Works for Women

Vermont Works for Women, a nonprofit that aims to advance gender equity, announced on Tuesday that it had been forced to pause the federally funded expansion of its Trailblazers program, which provides training in the trades for “women and gender-expansive individuals.” The nonprofit had been awarded about $400,000 in federal funding to use over two years.

“This rescission of substantial federal dollars coming into Vermont directly impacts our state’s ability to meet workforce development goals and labor needs,” the group’s executive director, Rhoni Basden, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Landmark College, Bennington College, the Community College of Vermont and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation had to postpone a press conference scheduled for Wednesday, at which the group was intending to announce an $8 million federal grant for research from the National Science Foundation. “There’s now considerable uncertainty about this grant,” Katie Mobley, dean of enrollment and community relations at Community College of Vermont, told Seven Days.
University of Vermont interim president Patricia Prelock, too, issued a statement intended to “address the uncertainty resulting from the recent federal executive orders and proposed legislation and how they may affect the important work we all do.

“We are reviewing these orders and working closely with our congressional delegation and other leaders in the state to understand their implications, to continue to promote and advocate for our work as a university, and to ensure our continued compliance with all federal laws,” she wrote.