Dear Congressman – January 28 2025

Today’s letter to my congressman… this is getting old fast.

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Jan 28, 2025

Dear Representative Huizenga,

I am greatly disturbed by President Trump’s suspension of government spending and programs. I believe most of these actions are illegal as the President doesn’t have the right or power to override budgets and programs approved and signed into law. In any case, his actions are certainly immoral and I am strongly opposed.

Here are just a couple of examples:
The suspension of federal grants and loans is going to have a devastating affect on children, seniors, and other vulnerable people.
The suspension of foreign aid programs has halted distribution of HIV/AIDS medicines and disrupted services in over 50 countries. This puts people’s lives at risk and jeopardizes decades of progress fighting this epidemic.
Trump has also ended funding to aid refugee settlement. These are not illegal immigrants but are people in need who are already legally approved to live in the United States. It includes people who are in fact already living here and it puts them at risk.

These are the reprehensible actions of an authoritarian who seems intent on holding the American people hostage. They will cause death and chaos for too many people and the responsibility lies not only with the President but those in Congress who refuse to speak up and oppose his actions.

As my congressional representative, I ask you to stand up for morality and act in the best interest of the American people and people everywhere. Please act to stop this nonsense.

Sincerely,
Rev. Kenneth Arthur

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Received this response on February 13, 2025 via email:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Trump Administration’s review of federal financial assistance. I always appreciate hearing from constituents and welcome this opportunity to respond.
Upon taking office, President Trump issued several executive orders tasking federal agencies with an important mission to review their federal funding programs and related policies, largely to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a subsequent memo to federal agencies with guidance on how they should work with OMB to implement some of these executive orders — including by placing limited, temporary pauses on some of the programs under their purview. The OMB’s guidance made it explicitly clear that this was not an across-the-board funding freeze, especially for programs that provide direct benefits to individuals, SNAP, Medicare, Social Security, small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs. While the OMB’s guidance was ultimately rescinded before taking effect, the underlying executive orders still remain in place. 

I understand the OMB’s guidance initially caused certain federal funding recipients to question whether their federal assistance was subject to this temporary pause, especially due to the flurry of conflicting media narratives at the time regarding the scope of a funding pause. Due to this, my office has been actively communicating with any organization that had questions about their standing with regard to the OMB’s guidance.

Please know, as this matter is further deliberated, including in the courts, I will monitor this situation and continue to help my constituents navigate any federal matter that arises and will monitor this situation with your thoughts in mind. 

Again, I appreciate you contacting me, and please do not hesitate to do so in the future.
Sincerely,
Bill Huizenga
Member of Congress

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