New Hampshire’s congressional delegation speaks out against Trump federal funding freeze

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Recent statements from the Trump Administration freezing all federal grant funding has impacted millions of people across the country and New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation held a virtual press conference Thursday with leaders of several Granite State organizations directly affected by the move.

U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. upheld an order from 22 state attorneys general asking to counteract a memorandum issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding the freeze. While the Trump Administration has rescinded the memorandum itself, it has not rescinded the various executive orders related to the pause. While the OMB has issued a statement indicating other federal funding not related to the executive orders is not impacted, but confusion remains on the extent of what could under the scope of the orders, with people on the call indicating that there are limited resources being offered by the federal government to clarify any confusion.

One of the organizational leaders on the call was Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Chmiel. Not including Medicaid payments, just over $25 million was projected coming from the federal government by the district in preparation for the Fiscal Year 2025 district budget last year.

“It’s just confusion. We’re trying to understand, we’re trying to make the next step, we don’t want to see those fund go away because we’re certainly trying to make progress,” said Chmiel. “Our student outcomes are going in the right direction, so I think everybody’s kind of holding their breath at the moment for a little bit more clarity.”

The members of Congress were united in their frustration with Trump’s action, stating that their constituents have reached out to them with confusion and concern over what to do next and how this decision from the White House could impact their lives.

“We need to see the president repeal these executive orders that affect these programs that people depend on because what he has done is not going to help people lower their food prices or pay their rents or get the child care that they need or the healthcare they need for their families,” said U.S Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)

“The White House keeps sowing confusion and chaos about this funding, but make no mistake, people’s safety, their jobs, their health, our fire and police departments, shouldn’t hang in the balance subject to the confused wordings and impulsive whims of the next tweet or memo,” said U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH). “The consequences of this freeze are real behind every one of these grants is a person who depends on this fund and a person that matters.”

“This is not about lines on a spreadsheet in Washington DC, this is about people here in New Hampshire, it’s about the ability of our communities to come together and help those in need and move forward,” said U.S. Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH-01)

“What (Trump’s) used the power of government to do is sow total chaos and confusion in a way that its been so harmful to so many people all across our state at every level of government,” said U.S. Representative Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02).

The delegation also noted that the funding being frozen has already been allocated by Congress and described his actions as “unlawful” and are contrary to many of Trump’s campaign promises. There was a consensus that the primary way to fight back against these decisions is casting light on the people directly impacted by the decisions.

“(The Trump Administration is) not providing what was promised to the people of the State of New Hampshire and this country and what we need to do ow is to let the president know who’s affected, how they’re affected, and why this is the wrong way to proceed,” said Shaheen.

“This is about making our voices heard as we have done in the past and putting a stop to this unlawful act so we can get this White House focus on what they said they’d do, which is lower costs,” said Hassan.

Hassan also added her disapproval with statements made by the president blaming a plane crash on Wednesday night on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“It is shameful and it is harmful for him to make these comments to jump to conclusions when we are still notifying family members and first responders are working around the clock. The president’s comments would be ridiculous if this wasn’t so serious,” said Hassan. “Leaders lead, they don’t blame. It is deeply unfortunate that the President decided that’s where he wanted to spend his focus rather than comforting families and praising first responders.”