Trump administration plans to hold back grant money for some Democratic-led states

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to withhold some public health and transportation money from a group of Democratic-led states.

Full details have not been released, including whether the states could take any steps to avoid losing the funding. The federal government cited concerns over fraud and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, but has not presented evidence beyond remarks from Trump and others in his administration.

The approach has become a familiar one for the administration, and this time focuses on frequent targets: California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota.

Courts have so far temporarily blocked other similar efforts by this administration to restrict funds.

The latest effort targets some public health and transportation funds

An Office of Management and Budget official confirmed to The Associated Press that the office is telling the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cancel grants totaling more than $1.5 billion, as first reported last week by the New York Post. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts on the record.

The official did provide a partial list of programs facing cuts; some appeared to be targeted because they are not in line with the administration’s policies opposing protections for transgender people and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Among the transportation funds targeted are money for electric vehicle chargers in all four states, funds to research translating the test for Illinois commercial driver’s licenses into Spanish, and money for California to adapt to climate change.

The health research money includes projects aimed at studying the health impact of specific populations. Among them is one studying groups in Chicago disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections: “adolescents, racial and ethnic minorities, and men who have sex with men;” and a grant for California universities focused on ”reducing social isolation among older LGBTQ adults.”

A $7.2 million grant for the American Medical Association, which is based in Chicago, was also on the list, noting its support for gender-affirming care for minors, which a Trump executive order opposes.

States say they haven’t received notice

The offices of the governors of all four states said Tuesday that they had not received any communication from the Trump administration about the plans.

“Time and time again, the Trump Administration has attempted to politicize and punish certain states President Trump does not like,” Jillian Kaehler, a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, said in a statement. “It’s wrong and often illegal, so Illinois will always fight for the resources and services our taxpayers are owed.”

The administration has targeted funding in Democratic states before

The same states — all of which have Democratic governors — have been targeted by other federal cuts.

A judge last week ruled that the Trump administration cannot stop child care subsidies and other social service programs aimed at lower-income people in those states, plus New York, for now. The states said the federal programs in that effort provide them more than $10 billion a year collectively.

There’s also a legal challenge over the administration’s effort to withhold administrative money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP food aid, from 22 states that have not provided information on recipients, including their immigration status. Those states include nearly all with Democratic governors. A judge has been asked to decide whether cutting off funding would violate an existing court order that bars the government from collecting the data for now.

Trump has also threatened to halt federal money to sanctuary cities and their states, and followed that up with an order for government agencies to compile data on 14 mostly Democratic-controlled states and the District of Columbia. All four of the states in the latest effort were on that list, too.

Other federal money for Minnesota and Minneapolis has also been targeted.

Associated Press writers Sophie Austin, Fatima Hussein, John O’Connor and Colleen Slevin contributed to this article.