A federal court has temporarily blocked President Trump from freezing federal grants and loans until his administration can be sure they align with his political ideologies. A U.S. district judge lifted the freeze until February 3 amid fears it could devastate millions of Americans.
About 40% of Ohio’s budget comes from the federal government. And some advocates for public education and health care fear those funds might be in jeopardy.
Transgender rights, DEI programs and environmental rules are some of the ideologies Trump said he wants his administration to review when it comes to federal loans and grants.
Hannah Halbert, executive director of the progressive think tank Policy Matters Ohio, said the freeze could affect unemployment insurance, child care and programs that help needy families with food assistance or utility payments. She added state officials need to clarify the impacts of these orders on programs Ohioans depend on.
“This disruption could not have come at a worse time for Ohioans. The governor is expected to release his budget proposal next week," Halbert said. "This freeze injects an unprecedented level of uncertainty into the already complex process and jeopardizes programs everyday Ohioans depend on — not in some abstract future, but today."
Scott DiMauro, president of the state's largest teachers' union, the Ohio Education Association, said the freeze could throw a lot of things into chaos. He said it could tie up funding for sports and scholarships under the anti-discrimination law Title IX, food service and other vital parts of public school programming.
“It really doesn’t make sense. This is unprecedented and it is really going to hurt a lot of people across the country,” DiMauro said.
RELATED: Ohio State officials figuring out how federal funding 'pause' will impact university
While DiMauro said he’s concerned about the pause, he is not surprised by it.
“This is part of the Project 2025 playbook and there were a lot of these kinds of moves that were telegraphed in that." DiMauro said. "Of course, the president during the campaign said he had nothing to do with that. But for those who are paying attention, this is shocking to be sure but not completely a surprise.”
House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) called the pause irresponsible.
“So much of our state budgets are comprised from federal money so we are in new uncharted territory here. This is very chaotic and I think speaks to a very irresponsible to do this review from the Trump administration,” Russo said.
Trump’s supporters say the action is misunderstood
Late Tuesday afternoon, White House administration officials released a fact sheet that said “the pause does not apply across-the-board” and that programs that provide direct benefits to individual Americans – such as Social Security, Medicare and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or food stamps – are not part of the executive order.
A spokesman for Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said the funding freeze directive is a memo to federal agencies, not state agencies. And Dan Tierney said anyone who is guessing what could be affected is speculating at this point.
John Fortney, communications director for the Republican supermajority in the Ohio Senate, said in a statement: “The American people and Ohio taxpayers understand the federal government’s unaccountable spending and $36 trillion national debt that spiraled out of control during the Biden Administration. Now is the time to be accountable to taxpayers as the current spending level is not sustainable.”
DeWine's budget is set to come out on Monday, kicking off the process that ends with the passage of the spending plan by June 30. Ohio is required by law to have a balanced budget.
