Trump’s move to freeze funds brings chaos and cruelty to North Carolina | Opinion
Older and vulnerable people who depend on Meals on Wheels got their hot meals delivered Tuesday, but it came with a side dish of doubt thanks to the Trump administration’s abrupt move to suspend federal funding for a wide range of services.
Meals on Wheels of Wake County relies on federal funding under the Older Americans Act to cover about half its $4.7 million budget. The announcement Monday night that federal funding was being suspended sent the organization’s leaders scrambling to find out if it was being cut off.
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the suspension until at least Feb. 3 and the White House suddenly rescinded the order on Wednesday, but that hasn’t cleared the confusion over the ultimate fate of federal grants and loans.
“It’s very unclear right now,” Ashley McCumber, executive director of Meals on Wheels of Wake County., said on Tuesday. “We’re concerned that all programs will be under review.”
For Meals on Wheels, the threat is especially ominous. The expiration of COVID relief funding has left the service short of funds and looking for more charitable contributions.
The memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget announcing the “temporary pause” said the delay will allow it to root out programs that advance “Marxist equity, transgenderism and green new deal social engineering polices” that are “a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
It’s hard to see how Meals on Wheels or hundreds of other programs that serve the needy and disadvantaged need such a review. For instance, studies actually show that money spent on Meals on Wheels reduces health care costs and nursing home admissions.
The Trump administration’s move to suspend federal funding with virtually no notice is a combustible mix of cruelty and incompetence. It created nationwide confusion, impeded programs and appears to be an illegal withholding of funds approved by Congress.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee who had hoped to prevent a second Trump term, summarized the suspension attempt concisely.
“This is not bold. It’s not leadership,” he said. “It’s stupid, buffoonish, childish.”
A widespread suspension of federal funding would hit North Carolina hard. The state’s economy, particularly in the Research Triangle, relies on research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and other agencies. It will also need federal aid to help western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene.
Rep. Valerie Foushee, a Democrat representing part of the Research Triangle in District 4, blasted the order to pause federal funding.
“My district is home to leading research institutions and universities, and this sweeping freeze will harm the livelihoods of researchers, federal employees, and students throughout the Triangle region,” she said in a statement.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell said city officials were trying to sort out the impact. “We’re trying stay steady on our feet and make sense of things as we can,” she said.
Federal funding is only $81 million of the city’s $1.4 billion budget, she said, but a freeze could limit GoRaleigh bus operations and care for the homeless.
Alexandra Sirota, executive director of the nonprofit NC Budget & Tax Center, said the funding freeze threatens basic services for children and families in North Carolina and violates the legal process for distributing federal funds.
“The sweeping nature of this unlawful action is a further blow to a key principle of democracy — that our public money should reflect the priorities of the people, debated through a transparent and inclusive policy process, not dictated by the whims or will of any one person,” Sirota said in a statement.
Trump said on the campaign trail that he would serve “the forgotten man,” but what he has done now that he is in office is forget the people. He’s not a king and his margin of victory is hardly a clear mandate. Yet he has signed executive orders that contradict the Constitution, moved to suspend federal funds authorized by Congress and badgered nonpartisan federal employees to be loyal to his agenda or get out.
Instead of getting his second term off to a quick start, he’s sinking it into a quicksand of confusion, chaos and legal challenges.
This story was originally published January 29, 2025 at 10:25 AM with the headline "Trump’s move to freeze funds brings chaos and cruelty to North Carolina | Opinion."