This column contains a correction.
Last week, the Trump administration released a memo instructing all federal agencies to “pause” enormous swaths of federal spending. Despite the administration rescinding the memo less than 48 hours later, millions of Americans are still dealing with the fallout as they navigate confusion and uncertainty around programs that underpin the functioning of the country’s economy and families’ budgets for health care, food, child care, and more. For example, several states have reported Medicaid portals going offline, while Head Start facilities nationwide face shuttering as child care centers continue to struggle to access operating funds.
A freeze, no matter how temporary, harms people across the country. States, local governments, and other facilities and authorities rely on taxpayer dollars to administer services—such as child care, food assistance, and housing support—that affect the everyday lives of people and their communities. Although levels vary by state, federal funds make up anywhere from 18 to 50 percent of state budgets. Federal funding cuts shift these costs onto states whose budgets are already strained.
The Trump administration’s proposed temporary halt of federal funds last week froze payments for key government programs and put many others in limbo. Notably, millions of Americans are employed by states, organizations, and companies that would lose their funding if such a freeze were put in effect.
Read CAP’s previous analysis on the proposed funding pause
While this funding pause was ill-conceived and poorly executed by the Office of Management and Budget, the incident is likely only the first in a series of attacks on families’ budgets. Americans can expect to see similar attempts to slash funding as congressional Republicans propose budget plans to reduce spending on vital government programs that provide health care and make food more affordable. Any future pause or restriction of funding could have devastating effects on American families’ well-being and economic security.
The table below demonstrates the number of people, by state, who would be harmed by cuts to funding for key programs related to health care, child care, food assistance and nutrition, education, housing, and energy bill assistance.
The authors would like to thank Natalie Baker, Bobby Kogan, Allie Schneider, Emily Gee, Lily Roberts, Sophie Cohen, Natasha Murphy, Allie Schneider, Jamie Friedman, Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Lucero Marquez, Veronica Goodman, Alex Cogan, Jerry Parshall, Steve Bonitatibus, Bill Rapp, Anh Nguyen, and Mona Alsaidi of the Center for American Progress for their help with this column.