The News & Observer by Avi Bajpai

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross blasted the Trump administration’s move this week to freeze federal grants and loans as “reckless and cruel,” while N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson said he believed the freeze would continue to be temporarily blocked while lawsuits proceed.

Ross and Jackson, both Democrats, said the administration’s effort to hold federal grants and financial assistance to review compliance with several executive orders signed by President Donald Trump since he took office last week was unconstitutional, and had created confusion and uncertainty about what funds relied on by state and local governments would be paused.

“It’s impossible to predict what programs and resources President Trump will target next,” Ross said during a news conference Friday morning on the State Capitol grounds in downtown Raleigh. “Education, health care, housing are all under threat, and we know that he is still coming after funds that address climate change, global health and women’s health care.”

Ross said the funds the Trump administration sought to put on hold were “appropriated by Congress, and signed into law, and it is wrong to withhold North Carolina tax dollars from the people of North Carolina.”

The Trump administration said on Tuesday, as officials in North Carolina and states across the rest of the country rushed to try to figure out the scope of the freeze, that it would not impact programs that provide direct assistance to Americans, including Medicare, Social Security, food stamps and welfare.

A federal judge hearing a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups agreed to temporarily block the freeze from taking effect on Tuesday, issuing an administrative stay that lasts until Monday.

Friday afternoon, Jackson announced that a second federal judge who is hearing a lawsuit brought by North Carolina and 22 other states had granted their request for a temporary restraining order. Jackson said the restraining order “is in effect until further notice,” while North Carolina and other states continue to fight the freeze in court.

Jackson said Friday that the administration’s decision to subsequently rescind the White House Office of Management and Budget memo that directed federal agencies to freeze funding was creating more confusion.

“We still don’t know what their intention really is,” Jackson said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that the administration was not rescinding the federal funding freeze, only the OMB memo.

“Why? To end any confusion created by the court’s injunction. The President’s EOs on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented,” Leavitt said in a social media post.

Jackson said during Friday’s news conference that the funding freeze was “plainly unconstitutional,” and would have caused “widespread and immediate damage across our state.” He said it could have held up disaster aid for people in Western North Carolina recovering from Hurricane Helene, and impacted funding for law enforcement, children and veterans.

He told The News & Observer on Tuesday, after North Carolina joined the multistate lawsuit, that states were “dealing with a directive from the administration that was written very quickly, in vague terms, that has caused an unnecessary amount of chaos.”

Several Wake County officials and leaders of local nonprofits and other groups that rely on federal grants joined Ross and Jackson to speak against the funding freeze.

Don Mial, the vice chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said the county receives more than $130 million in federal funds every year that, among other things, goes toward the WIC program, SNAP benefits, Medicaid and housing.

Wake County School Board Chair Chris Heagarty said there are 20,500 students with disabilities in the county that directly benefit from federal funds that come into the school system. He said other funds that could be impacted include money for Pre-K programs, and the county’s magnet schools.

Gayle Headen, the executive director of Wake County Smart Start, said that if federal grant funding is paused, Wake would lose half of its state funding for a Pre-K program that provides no-cost preschool for income-eligible 4-year-olds.

“These programs are essential for early development and kindergarten preparation, offering high quality education that many families could otherwise not afford,” Headen said. “Without this funding, these families will lose the opportunity to give their children, our children, a critical early foundation for success.”

Link to full article: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article299501199.html