Trump’s funding freeze pushes Democrats over the edge
Trump’s funding freeze pushes Democrats over the edge
Share:
Democrats have offered little pushback to Trump since he won. Now, Eric Garcia reports, they’re preparing for battle. President Donald Trump caused chaos late Monday evening when his Office of Management and Budget announced a sudden pause on federal grants, loans, and other types of financial assistance.
![[Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said she would oppose Donald Trump’s nominee to be Transportation Secretary because of the pause]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/11/08/10/Election_2022_Illinois_Senate_85732.jpg)
Almost immediately, Democrats in the Senate called the move illegal — seizing on the freeze as their first real ammunition for a fight against Trump. While many senators have remained relatively subdued in the first days of Trump’s administration, the pause, and the chaos it’s already caused, has lawmakers gearing up for battle.
![[Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said ‘we’ve just got to sort through it and see how they ultimately implement’ the pause.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/15/21/Trump_Cabinet_Bondi_71670.jpg)
Back in November, Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota was in a contemplative state, telling The Independent of Kamala Harris’s loss that “we lost, and we need to do better.”. Now, she is singularly focused on how the freeze will affect her consituents, saying she just spoke to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz about the chaos the sudden move is causing in their state.
“I spoke to the governor just a few minutes ago, who told me that the entire apparatus for getting paid for people's health insurance is down,” she told The Independent, adding that the future Head Start, which helps low-income children, is now unclear.
In Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin — one of only two incumbent Democrats who survived her re-election in a state Trump won — is also worried about how Trump’s order has thrown her state into disarray. “It’s a wide range,” she toldThe Independent. “Everything from law enforcement emergency responders, firefighters, wondering about their grant funding to school lunch programs wondering if they'll be able to serve lunch tomorrow.”.
