Constitutional Cash Chaos
An update…since I wrote this post, I received word on January 31, 2025 that payments are still on “pause” because of the memo issued from the Office of Management and Budget discussed below. Organizations can submit claims, but the claims will not be processed.
Andrea Evelsizer, the Executive Director of Healthy Harvest of North Iowa, decided to go into the Federal Grant Payment Management Services portal Tuesday morning after hearing news that the Trump Administration declared a freeze on federal grants and loans.
“I just didn’t think it was a real—I thought it was just a scare tactic, a threat,” Evelsizer told me about her experience. “So I thought I would go in and just get the money out, to be safe. I went through the whole thing and it sent the code, and then a red banner came up across the top and said something like ‘this site is undergoing maintenance’ and to try again later.”
Evelsizer was trying to access funds already allocated and spent on a grant Healthy Harvest of North Iowa received to promote local farms and conduct educational programs. Like other nonprofits in Iowa, Evelsizer often keeps receipts until she has the time to enter the claims into the site.
Luckily, a Judge stopped the freeze and within a day the Executive Order was rescinded. Evelsizer and thousands (millions?) of other groups quickly put in their requests, before something like this happens again.
But the White House reiterated yesterday that the order for all funding to be reviewed has not been revoked.
The stunt was engineered to let us know that Trump is in charge. He intends to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, without regard to the impacts on the citizens of our nation, the anxiety his actions create at home and abroad, and the distrust that is brewing in the government.
Promises the government has made via legally binding contracts (grants)—to groups, to individuals, to future generations (for what are grants studying the oceans or caring for wetlands but promise for a healthy planet to our unborn children) —are no longer promises, leaving us with no trust in our government.
Unfortunately, the mandated review of programs is underway, even if the funds are still, for now, available. Part of the official decree halting payments explained its intention (italics added):
To implement these orders, each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President's executive orders…
Additionally, agencies must, for each Federal financial assistance program: (i) assign responsibility and oversight to a senior political appointee to ensure Federal financial assistance conforms to Administration priorities; (ii) review currently pending Federal financial assistance announcements to ensure Administration priorities are addressed, and, subject to program statutory authority, modify unpublished Federal financial assistance announcements, withdraw any announcements already published, and, to the extent permissible by law, cancel awards already awarded that are in conflict with Administration priorities, and; (iii) ensure adequate oversight of Federal financial assistance programs and initiate investigations when warranted to identify underperforming recipients, and address identified issues up to and including cancellation of awards.
Oh my.
The list of programs includes EVERYTHING, from SNAP, to emergency agricultural funding, to sustainable agricultural research to grants for updating water systems and broadband. Food, agriculture and farming are major areas where grants are issued.
In other words, if the administration has its way, Congress will no longer decide who will receive funding from the government. If Trump decides that a program is in conflict with his priorities, according to this document, it will be canceled and redirected.
That leaves me wondering, will programs to fix water systems in Latino communities be deemed too “woke”? Will studies on menopause be cancelled because they give preference to women? Will schools in Black communities be defunded because they teach about Black leaders in history?
It makes me think back to a conversation I had with a friend the day after the election. She was telling me that she voted for Trump because she was “really into the Constitution.”
“I think that censoring people on Youtube is against freedom of speech,” she told me, upset that the Biden administration had asked Zuckerberg to clamp down on misinformation spread on Facebook about Covid.
I now want to ask her and the others who voted for Trump—people who voted that way because they were concerned about gun and other individual “rights” —are Trump’s actions upholding the Constitutional? Or are they just more convenient to ignore because you can continue to say what you want to on YouTube?
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the constitution reads as follows:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
A government sponsored kids’ site makes this even easier to understand (italics added):
The legislative branch has the power to approve Presidential nominations, control the budget, and can impeach the President and remove him or her from office.
If he is allowed to effectively change the constitution, Trump and any other president in office will have the ability to overrule and redirect Congressional budgets, thus rendering the legislative branch unnecessary. The list of his Executive Orders (aka Edicts) released in the first week or two of his presidency (one example can be seen here) outline the administration’s objectives and set the stage for what will be considered “American” behavior and what will not be tolerated.
In other words, freedom of speech is not a high priority for the administration either.
Additionally, what he is doing—namely trying to retroactively nullify legally binding contracts to control the entire budget of the United States is blatantly unconstitutional.
A President should never, ever be able to dictate policy and to decide who gets funding. Our constitution was created so that there are checks and balances, a concept we all learned in elementary school. In my humble opinion a President of the United States should never even WANT to dictate the budget or control all agencies and priorities.
Check out Bob Leonard and Matt Russel’s article on the situation here. We are all members of the Iowa Writers Collaborative!
And for info about Whippoorwill Creek Farm, go to iowa-farm.com. We have a Pasta Perfect class coming up for Feb 15—a great activity to do with your Valentine!
Thank you for being so clear and succinct, sharing this with family, friends and anyone else I can influence...
2 times 10 = 20. 2 to the 10th power = 1024. Trump's first term was the former; his second, the latter. Since exponential growth can be so seismatic it must be employed with much caution and care. You identify such a case, Beth. Thank you.