PRESS STATEMENT: Trump's Grant Spending Freeze is a Gambit that Seeks to Make War on Children, People of Color and Low-Income Americans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Tessie Borden
Senior Communications Manager (323) 559-1895
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Trump administration has announced a freeze on spending on all federal grants and loans, likely disrupting important federal education, health care and poverty programs, housing assistance, and disaster relief on which millions of American families now depend.
Catalyst California's President and CEO, John Kim, had the following response:
“The Trump administration’s latest executive order prescribes immediate chaos of cruelty, stopping deliveries of formula for babies and meals for homebound elderly, and ending medical care for low-income Americans. His effort to give his own billionaire lackeys control over these funds is nothing less than a looting of public coffers. This move, like his other efforts to overwhelm a system built for centuries on the rule of law, has no validity, and has already been stayed by a federal judge.
“Trump’s historically thin electoral margins mean he has only a narrow Congressional majority to try to move his unpopular Project 2025 agenda. That’s why he’s issuing illegal executive orders instead. The hundreds of billions of dollars in loans and grants that Trump purports to block with a two-page memo from the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget are actually spending mandates from Congress, the only branch permanently empowered by the Constitution with the power of the purse.
“We do not accept the Trump administration’s ’overwhelm’ tactics. We will continue working to strengthen our democracy, making it more, not less, inclusive. Through We Are California, our broad-based, community powered alliance, we will keep bringing our communities together so those affected by these grotesque attacks can combine their voices and power, and push our leaders to make the change needed to meet the moment.
“Given the recent climate emergency that decimated Southern California communities, we count on our elected leaders to stand up to Trump’s bully strategy, building the governance our diverse communities depend on for their survival.”
For interviews with John Kim, please reach out at tborden@catalystcalifornia.org or 323-559-1895.
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Catalyst California (formerly Advancement Project California) advocates for racial justice by building power and transforming public systems. We partner with communities of color, conduct innovative research, develop policies for actionable change, and shift money and power back into our communities.