Connecticut officials are expressing concerns about what a federal funding freeze could mean for families across the state, saying they'll do what they can to provide support for residents in the coming days and months.
The White House planned to pause federal grants and loans starting Tuesday night, but a federal judge temporarily blocked it before it could take effect.
There is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding what this will mean.
Gov. Ned Lamont described the funding freeze as "sudden and erratic," as well as "ill conceived."
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The state of Connecticut said they'd temporarily pay about 3,000 state employees who are fully or partially paid through the federal government. That amounts to about $25 million a month, according to Lamont.
Before the federal funding freeze was blocked, the governor said the state budget would be used to make payments to these employees. Without state assistance, they'd likely be cut off.
Connecticut's Medicaid payment system was turned off but has since been restored. The White House said the Medicaid website portage experienced an outage.
Gov. Ned Lamont, Attorney General William Tong, state Comptroller Sean Scanlon, U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, U.S. Representative John Larson, U.S. Representative Joe Courtney, U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker spoke at the State Capitol in Hartford to discuss the order, which was supposed to go into effect at 5 p.m.
NBC News reports that The Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to all federal agencies on Monday night that directs them to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”
It went on to say there is an exception for Social Security and Medicare and direct payments to individuals.
They include:
- School meals for low-income students
- The WIC nutrition program
- Wildfire preparedness for the Department of Interior
- The Medicare enrollment assistance program
- USAID foreign assistance
- Mine inspections
- A reintegration program for homeless veterans
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is joining 21 other states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, California and more, in filing a lawsuit to stop the pause to federal funding.
"This is war on the Connecticut people, on Connecticut families," Tong said. "I think it's clear he [President Trump] meant to hurt us."
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said Connecticut is in a good fiscal situation with a robust rainy day fund.
State officials said they will continue to operate, and will keep funding going to critical programs that provide food, childcare, housing, healthcare, and more, to residents.
Connecticut Republican leaders issued a statement, saying the federal funding freeze was a "common sense effort."
"It’s no surprise that Connecticut Democrats, showcasing their penchant for theatrics over substance, are raising alarm over President Trump’s common-sense efforts to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely and align with his executive actions. After all, these are the same individuals who believe taxpayers should foot the bill for placing tampons in boys’ bathrooms in our schools. Let’s be clear: the President’s federal funding pause is far from the doomsday scenario Democrats are peddling. Their claims are nothing more than an attempt to gaslight Connecticut residents. If Attorney General Tong and other Democrat leaders invested half as much effort into lowering costs for electric ratepayers as they do defending criminal illegal aliens and librarians promoting sexualized content in schools, Connecticut families would be far better off."