(WTAQ-WLUK) — There has been a lot of confusion and uncertainty locally among those who rely on federal loans and grants.
Wisconsin’s two U.S. senators are split on the impact the freeze will have.
In Outagamie County, there are few departments, if any, that do not rely on federal grants, according to County Executive Tom Nelson.
“One of the areas I’m most concerned about is health and human services,” said Nelson. “For a couple of reasons, number one, it’s our largest department. At any given time, we have 30,000 open cases across all divisions. You’re talking about 30,000 people, families, in our community that are dependent on support and funding from the federal government.”
Nelson says that’s especially true because for every $1 county taxpayers put toward health and human services, there are $3 coming from the federal and state levels.
He says the county will be worried about the pending freeze every day until there’s more certainty about what funding will be cut off and for how long. That includes during the temporary block on the freeze.
“That means nothing to us here,” said Nelson. “That could go away tomorrow.”
The Trump administration has said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans will not be affected.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson’s office issued the following statement:
The OMB memo explicitly makes clear that this does not affect direct payments to individuals. It makes sense for the Trump administration to want to make sure that federal taxpayer dollars are being used in a way that does not violate the President’s executive orders. The Trump administration is going to ensure adequate oversight of federal grants and loan programs and possibly investigate if any grant or loan recipients are not meeting the requirements or expectations of the federal programs.
Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin released the following statement:
I am already hearing from my constituents who are worried about funding being cut off for cops and firefighters, childcare, combatting the fentanyl crisis, food for kids, and so much more. We are talking about real people’s lives; real people’s ability to eat, stay safe, or live a healthy life is on the line. I want to be clear, Democrats and Republicans passed laws providing this funding for our kids, families, and communities, and ripping it away is an unconstitutional power grab. I will fight it at every step.
Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin doesn’t rely much on federal support, but works within a network that does, according to president and CEO Patti Habeck.
“Therefore, what we’re trying to do is work within that system to figure out what are the directions, where is this going to go, what impacts will that have on us or the network or on partners in the community that are working to solve hunger or poverty,” said Habeck.
Many organizations are taking a similar approach of needing to find out more details while being as prepared as possible with the information that has been given.
Comments