Funding freeze causes confusion for Aroostook County programs

The Trump administration’s order earlier this week freezing federal grants has caused confusion for the programs that provide County residents with heating, childcare, meals, health care services and education.

Uncertainty over the order has only grown since then, after a federal judge on Tuesday evening temporarily blocked it for one week, and then early Wednesday the Office of Management and Budget sent another memo allegedly rescinding the freeze. 

But after the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that the OMB was rescinding the memo articulating the freeze — not the actual hold on federal dollars — County providers were even more confused by the lack of clarity, according to the head of the Aroostook County Action Program.

“We are uncertain and we are a bit confused about it,” said Jason Parent, the president and CEO of ACAP, who was at the National Community Action Partnership Management & Leadership Training Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday. 

ACAP had already received its latest round of federal funding so it was not affected, but some other county action programs across the state reportedly had trouble accessing funds in the morning, he said, adding that the portals re-opened on Tuesday afternoon. 

Federal and state contracts as well as private donations fund ACAP’s 40 programs. Without the federal dollars, thousands of County households that rely on ACAP could not be served, Parent said.

In the County, the services most affected by a funding freeze would be home energy assistance for 7,500 households, as well as Head Start, Early Head Start and traditional childcare and preschool for 400 children, he said. 

A fact sheet released Tuesday by the White House indicated that any program providing direct benefits to Americans is excluded from the freeze, and that Social Security, Medicare and other mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause.

Nonetheless, Parent said programs like his are being told by national community action leaders to not over-commit services if they do not have the cash on hand. 

“At this point there is really not a guarantee that they will actually pay for any of the services rendered retroactively,” he said, adding that the federal dollar freeze is different from a government shutdown when funds are released once it re-opens. 

According to Parent, ACAP has asked its chief financial officer to determine how long it could weather a freeze with its current funds.