Democratic negotiators say Trump has targeted at least $430 billion in funding
Top Democratic funding negotiators in the House and Senate on Tuesday published a tracker they say is aimed at documenting federal funding blocked under President Trump, while accusing his administration of targeting at least $430 billion in funds.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees, released the tracker early Tuesday in an effort they say is intended to "shine a light on President Trump's vast, illegal funding freeze and how it is hurting people in every zip code in America."
The tracker was compiled by Democratic appropriations staff and details what the offices say is the “minimum amount” of funds believed to be frozen, cancelled or that the Trump administration is fighting to block in court.
It so far highlights 114 programs that Democrats say have seen their funds frozen, cancelled or terminated in the president's first 100 days in office.
That includes what Democrats say is roughly $1 billion in funding for HeadStart gone “frozen,” $400 million blocked funding for AmeriCorps State and National Grants, $2.4B in “frozen” funding for Wildfire Hazardous Fuels Management and $15 million in funding held back for the Social Security Administration Research.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
The tracker also catalogs what Democratic staffs have counted as billions of dollars in held up funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program and National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants.
“No American president has ever so flagrantly ignored our nation’s spending laws or so brazenly denied the American people investments they are owed,” Murray and DeLauro said in a statement on Tuesday.
Democrats note that the tracker is “not comprehensive” and doesn’t detail other funding at risk of being blocked due to the wave of firings seen across federal agencies in recent months, or “the full range of fiscal year 2025 funding that has yet to be awarded or disbursed, but that should be flowing.”
The figure could also change as the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government and cut spending have seen roadblocks in court.
For example, the administration was recently ordered to unfreeze funding approved in climate legislation passed by Congress under the Biden administration. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, the Trump appointee who ordered Trump officials to resume the funding, said at the time that “agencies do not have unlimited authority to further a President’s agenda, nor do they have unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration.”
Democrats acknowledged the tracker listed some programs that the Trump administration has been ordered to release in cases where Trump officials are “actively fighting in court to block it.”
They noted in a release that "any relief provided by the courts at this stage is only temporary" and that there were instances where federal funds were still inaccessible to "intended recipients even when ordered by a court to do so."
The tracker comes as Republicans in both chambers have been pushing for legislation to codify cuts pursued by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.