Nonprofits and other organizations locally and across the country are worried about the future of their federal funding.
That’s according to three local officials, Congressman Joe Morelle, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello and Rochester Mayor Malik Evans.
The three officials, all Democrats, have been meeting in person and virtually with leaders of nonprofits and say those organizations are worried about mixed messaging this week coming from the Trump Administration.
There was initially a report of a memo calling for a pause on certain federal grants and programs, but that memo was later rescinded.
At a news conference at his Rochester office on Thursday, Morelle criticized the way the funding issue has been handled by the Trump administration.
“To the extent that the President has a different idea about the size and scope of government funding, there's a process by which we do it,” said Morelle. “It's an appropriations process. It's a budget process. You come to the table, Mr. President, your administration, pose your ideas. We negotiate in Congress with the President. That's how we make decisions. That's how you make change. You don't get to do it unilaterally.”
Bello said the confusion over the messaging on federal funding has a real-world effect on various nonprofit agencies.
“(It) doesn't impact just the agencies and the governments that receive those dollars.,” Bello said. “This is real people. There's human beings in our community who are impacted by this, who are now uncertain about the supports that they receive, that they need. We're talking about housing, clothing, food, the supports that you need to survive.”
Evans echoed those sentiments, said confusion over the administration’s memo had some immediate effects, including the brief shutdown this week of a payment portal used by Head Start.
“So if that did not happen, people will say, ‘Oh, I don't care anything about Head Start.’ “Well, financial institutions care about getting their rental payments, car companies care about getting their pay for the mom that might be driving her car, if that system didn't come back up…those folks would not have been able to make payments that would have a residual effect,” Evans said.
Developments earlier this week followed a federal judge's order that temporarily blocked the effort to pause federal payments for grants and other programs.
A White House spokesperson said the initial memo from the Office of Management and Budget was rescinded "to end any confusion on federal policy created by the court ruling and the dishonest media coverage."
This story includes reporting from NPR.
