Editorial: Marin keeps close eye on Trump, federal funding

Few are going to credit President Donald Trump with acting carefully amid his flurry of executive orders, among those threatening funding, programs and jobs of millions of Americans, including many across Marin.

Trump’s declaration of a freeze on federal funds has placed in peril a far-reaching web of programs, projects and jobs – from day care for kids to running public transit – that rely on them.

The president’s declaration is additionally painful across California which is a so-called “donor” state, where more tax dollars are sent to Washington than those that return to fund government-supported programs, projects and services. Dozens of local, regional and state agencies rely on this funding. The cash infusion pays for hundreds of local jobs. Dozens of local nonprofits providing important services and a helping hand to vulnerable members of our community are – rightfully – worried about the future.

At best, at this time, their funding is in limbo.

This is not the way to run a country. Instead of fostering unity, the White House is driving fear-fueled division.

Trump’s White House Office of Management and Budget order to “freeze” federal loans and grants has itself been “frozen,” delayed (for now) by a judge in the face of legal challenges seeking to block Trump’s order.

Here are a few local examples:

• Community Action Marin, a longtime leading nonprofit in providing human and social services, is worried about the security of the $6.9 million it has been promised to provide early childhood education, energy assistance and a host of other important service and support programs for low-income residents.

• The Marin County Office of Education relies on $1 million in federal funds that it receives to provide special education programs and health care and safety services for Marin youngsters. Recently, the county office was awarded a $15 million multi-year grant from the federal Department of Education – one of Trump’s targets – to pay for improving mental health services for Marin students.

• County Fire Chief Jason Weber says grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency – another one of Trump’s budget targets – are used to pay for improved staffing and purchasing critical equipment.

• Many local transportation projects rely on federal funds, often awarded as those matching local public investment. That’s one of the reasons for the Transportation Authority of Marin special tax we pay in our local sales tax.

Now, the federal government, under Trump’s leadership, is putting its share of the match in question. Among the funding at stake is a $55.4 million that the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District is relying on.

The White House has not made clear its priorities and processes in reviewing this funding, much of which already won legislative approval.

It’s unclear whether Trump has the legal authority to overturn the Congress-approved funding that then-President Joe Biden – and possibly in some cases a first-term Trump – already signed into law. But the president seems to have little worry about upsetting the political checks and balances of our government.

Meanwhile Marin’s own congressman, Rep. Jared Huffman, has been among those forceful voices sharply criticizing the White House shotgun approach to governance.

He says Trump’s actions amount to “an existential test of American democracy,” one that is unfolding so fast that it’s leaving the American people “distracted, exhausted and overwhelmed.”

Huffman is urging support for challenging Trump’s “sweeping authoritarian take over” and defending the rule of law.

Certainly, there is likely room to cut federal spending. Americans should be worried about our nation’s growing debt.

But Trump’s sweeping approach, freezing promised federal grants and putting important local programs, services and projects – as well as jobs – at risk, is neither prudent nor practical. The judiciary has spoken, at least preliminarily. Now Congress should not sit idly by while Trump undermines its important authority and responsibility in our nation’s balance of powers.

This is much more than a political power play, but rather playing politics with people’s lives and reflecting a widening gap between Washington politics and Americans’ real-time lives.