Minnesota lawmakers react to potential federal funding freeze

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x

Minnesota lawmakers respond to potential federal funding freeze

(ABC 6 News) – An order from the Trump administration released Monday night that would temporarily pause all federal financial assistance left Minnesota lawmakers scrambling to decipher what it would mean for the state.

“Estimates that I have are that we have total about $3 trillion of federal funds that come into Minnesota in many different ways,” said Senator Carla Nelson (R-Rochester).

Senator Liz Boldon (DFL-Rochester) spent all of Tuesday in committees and speaking with constituents about the impact the freeze would have on millions of Minnesotans.

“I got a message from a constituent today asking me, saying you know I just heard about this, my husband is on medical assistance, he has cancer, if he loses his insurance he will die,” said Boldon.

The order is meant to ensure all money disbursed from the federal government is in alignment with the president’s executive orders.

“The American people elected President Trump to be the president of the united states gave him a mandate to increase the impact of every federal dollar,” said new White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to reporters about the freeze order.

A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says the order requires, “each agency to pause issuance of new awards [and] disbursement of federal funds under all open awards.” However, OMB “may grant exceptions allowing Federal agencies to issue new awards or take other actions on a case-by-case basis.”

The memo also clarified the order “does not include assistance provided directly to individuals,” nor does it affect Medicare and Social Security benefits.

“There was a lot of concern that was about, you know, payments to individuals, SNAP payments, student loan payments, all those type of things, and it has been very clear that those were not ever included in the freezing,” said Nelson.

Still, that leaves massive amounts of vital programs including education, housing, infrastructure, small business loans, city and county funding, law enforcement, and more potentially on the chopping block.

“I sat in the Health and Human Services Committee this morning and we were having a presentation from the Minnesota Department of Health,” said Boldon. “They shared that 50% of their budget comes from the federal government.”

The City of Rochester provided ABC 6 News the following statement on how the potential freeze of federal money would impact local functions:

“We currently have teammates across the organization evaluating and examining our grants and what this may mean for the variety of federal funding grants that we receive regularly (i.e. regular transit system, public safety, airport), have already been allocated (LINK Bus Rapid Transit Small Starts Grants, RAISE 6th street bridge, etc.), past Congressional Directed Spending (earmarks including funding that contributes to the equity in the built environment efforts), and others that were in process.

“Each of our many federal grants may evolve differently based on the goals of the new administration and how they interact with the executive orders that were issued a week ago. Maintaining focus on the economic benefits, job creation, business investment,  infrastructure investments, and other priorities that overlap with all of our city services will likely be key to navigating this evolving situation.”

The League of Minnesota Cities also provided a statement saying:

“Since taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders and taken other actions that have prompted questions from city staff and leaders about potential impacts on city operations including, most recently, distribution of federal funding. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC), along with our federal partner organization the National League of Cities (NLC), is closely monitoring and analyzing these developments as they apply to our municipal members. LMC will continue to provide updates for our cities on the implications of the executive orders and actions as they become more clear.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined 21 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over the order, saying it is unlawful.

A judge temporarily blocked the order until Monday, February 3, less than an hour before it was set to go into effect at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 28. The freeze only applies to existing programs.

This all comes as the Minnesota legislative session enters its third week, still without a quorum in the House to conduct an official business amidst a DFL boycott.

RELATED: Local lawmakers react to Minnesota Supreme Court House quorum decision

“We could be having hearings with the GOP on the impact that this will be having on public safety, on veterans, on schools, on healthcare,” said DFL Floor Leader Jamie Long in a virtual press conference.

DFL Speaker-Designate Melissa Hortman shared during the press conference that she’s hopeful a power sharing agreement can be reached this week.

“We talked about a number of the blockers that are still preventing a deal. I do think that we’re making progress. I tend to be a glass half full kind of person and I think the progress that we’re making is substantial,” said Hortman.

Throughout the chaos in the House, the Senate has been working under a power sharing agreement, as it was in a 33-33 tie following the death of Senator Kari Dziedzic (DFL-Minneapolis), until Doron Clark won the District 60 special election on Tuesday, restoring the DFL majority.

Still, there have been frustrations from Republicans in the Senate after a motion failed along party lines on Monday to expel Senator Nicole Mitchell (DFL-Woodbury), who is facing a criminal burglary trial at the end of the session in May.

“It’s just unfortunate all the way around, there’s just no excuse for it, I think history will record this as really a miscarriage of justice,” said Nelson.

Boldon defended her vote against the motion, saying Mitchell’s criminal trial is not the Senate’s business.

“I am focused on doing the work for the people of my district. You know, we have a lot of work before us and that’s the work I want to do,” said Boldon.