***For Immediate Release***
January 28, 2025
Contact: Sierra Salgado Pirigyi
Communications Director, Nebraska Appleseed
Office: 402-438-8853 x116
sierrasp@neappleseed.org
RELEASE: Freeze of federal assistance could harm Nebraskans in every community
Order would halt providing assistance in key programs supporting Nebraska communities
LINCOLN, NE — On Monday night, President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget ordered a temporary freeze on all federal financial assistance, in an effort to force all federal agencies to comply with his recent executive orders. The scope and impact of this freeze is unclear, but it could disrupt the benefits and services of thousands of Nebraskans, as well as the agencies and community groups serving them.
Nebraska Appleseed Executive Director Becky Gould issued the following statement in response:
“Last night, the Trump Administration issued a freeze over vast areas of the federal government that touch upon the lives of Americans across our country. This order includes a directive to temporarily pause the disbursement of “federal financial assistance.” While the scope of what this includes remains murky, there is the potential that it would include SNAP, child care subsidies, basic cash support for families, school feeding programs, rental assistance, programs to support workers, federal foster care funding, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and many more services that support our communities.
Our federal tax dollars do important work all across our communities ensuring that basic needs are met and that the critical infrastructure and programs we all need are in place and working. The Administration’s sweeping freeze on federal funding will at a minimum create confusion and delay for people seeking basic support to navigate their everyday lives. At worst, it will leave our friends, neighbors, and communities suffering.
We call upon Senators Fischer and Ricketts and Representatives Flood, Bacon and Smith to take up their leadership positions and stop the implementation of this freeze that will be disastrous to these important programs. We voice our strong opposition to any effort to freeze funding that is directly authorized by federal statutory language, which is a gross overreach of executive authority.”
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