A Trump minion announced a massive freeze of federal funding, and despite claims that it would not affect Medicaid, Head Start “or other similar programs,” there were reports of frozen funding in Medicaid and Head Start even before the freeze was supposed to start. There was an outpouring of concern, with uncertainty as to whether programs like Medicaid, the WIC child nutrition program, low-income home energy assistance, student financial assistance, housing assistance, or meals on wheels would see their funding halted (to name just a few). After the National Council of Nonprofits and other organizations brought suit against the freeze, a federal court issued a temporary restraining order, in effect until February 3. Then we’ll see what happens next. 

The Trump administration knows what it wants to happen. It asserts an autocratic power to halt funding that was appropriated by Congress and signed into law if it thinks the funded programs are inconsistent with Trump’s priorities. The minion’s memorandum states “Career and political appointees in the Executive Branch have a duty to align Federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through Presidential priorities. Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities…” The memo gathers up the Trumpean and right-wing catchphrases for its attack – the “pause” will root out spending on “…Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies…”

Sorry – that’s not the power a president has. He cannot simply toss out appropriations or other laws because he was elected and campaigned against them. He can ask Congress to change the law, to make cuts in programs. But the law and the Constitution is clear – Congress has the power of the purse, and presidents cannot freeze or impound funds just because they don’t agree with the laws. 

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), minority leaders of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, were alarmed, and wrote to the writer of the memorandum: “The scope of what you are ordering is breathtaking, unprecedented, and will have devastating consequences across the country. We write today to urge you in the strongest possible terms to uphold the law and the Constitution and ensure all federal resources are delivered in accordance with the law.” 

The court’s order freezing the freeze is reassuring, but this will be an ongoing and very consequential battle. President Trump and his nominee to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, both assert that the law limiting a president’s power to impound is unconstitutional. Previous Supreme Court decisions have rejected this position, with a strong opinion written by the very conservative Justice Scalia. Hard to predict what this Court will do. 

We know that President Trump has autocratic dreams of taking control of government spending. In his other executive actions, he decreed there would be no more spending on environmental justice projects – that is, clean-ups of environmental hazards that disproportionately harm people of color, whose low-income communities are more likely to be subject to toxic water, air, or other hazards. It was an important advance under the Biden administration to enact law to redress these harms. Citizens must hold the current administration and congressional majority accountable, and demand the law be upheld. 

Advocates are speaking out and going to court. We will have to do more. People across the nation should contact members of Congress, especially those of the President’s party, and demand that they obtain assurances from the administration that they will not freeze funding for Medicaid, WIC, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, child care, home energy assistance and housing, education programs – the list is long, and it is filled with services that people desperately need. Constituents should demand that their representatives and senators get back to them with assurances that these programs will not be disrupted, and that these members of Congress will oppose unlawful acts by the Trump administration. Appropriations have not been able to pass without bipartisan support in recent years, and that’s likely to remain true now. So there needs to be a strong bipartisan stance that these hard-won laws must be upheld, not tossed aside by an autocrat.