Not to be dramatic, but this is going to kill people. It is already stopping research trials of life-saving medications for terminal illnesses, leaving people un-medicated. It also was not very clear in its language about which programs exactly will be affected, leaving people concerned about TANF/food stamp benefits being cut off, leaving children and adults all over the country to starve. And of course, it's cutting off important programs in libraries (I am part of a working group at my Pride center library benefiting from an NIH grant administered through the local university library. We will presumably get no more money from the grant to fund the programs we had already been planning as part of the grant. Thankfully we had already spent the greater part of the grant money on books which have arrived).
It also seems, from what I can tell, that this is all extremely illegal. That the President doesn't have the power to countermand Congress once Congress has already approved money to be spent. However, unless Congress stands up to him, he will just get away with this and other crimes. Urge your congress-critters to stand against this serious over-reach of their power. Even GOP congress critters should be reminded that whatever power they cede to a Republican president can also be used by a Democratic president to stop their agendas as well.
Anyway, yes we need a plan, and we're not currently getting one from Democratic leadership. But community organizers and civil rights organizations are already working tirelessly on executing plans, so I urge everyone to be involved in their local community if they can and find the organizers already doing the work to keep people alive & safe.
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Kestrel Ward MSI/MA
they/them
Digital Services and OER Specialist
Florida Virtual Campus Library Services
https://libraries.flvc.org/------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: Jan 27, 2025 10:14 PM
From: James Neal
Subject: Wow!
President Donald Trump's budget office on Monday ordered all federal agencies to temporarily block disbursement of grants and loans - other than for Social Security, Medicare and other programs providing direct aid to individuals.
The memo says the temporary pause, effective starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, is intended to ensure agencies are complying with Trump's executive orders to root out "Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies" from programs within their purview.
Jim Neal
University Librarian Emeritus
Columbia University
ALA President 2017-18
ALA Honorary Member
jneal0@columbia.edu
http://www.columbia.edu/~jneal