City officials search for clarity on federal funding freeze as judge temporarily halts order

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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UPDATE: President Donald Trump’s budget office rescinded the freeze on federal funding on Wednesday

ROCKFORD — City officials are sorting through the details of how a potential freeze on federal funding could affect a multitude of programs that rely on grants, loans and other federal assistance.

Mayor Tom McNamara held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss the effect of the freeze, saying the information he provided was fluid as the city continued to search for clarity from the federal government on what was at stake. Shortly after the news conference, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., put a temporary pause on the Trump Administration’s plan, directing it not to block funds that were already slated to be disbursed until another hearing can be held Monday.

The judge’s decision was in response to a federal lawsuit quickly filed Tuesday by representatives of some grant recipients.

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McNamara said the city received the memo from the Office of Management and Budget on Monday night, and city staff began reaching out to federal officials to seek clarity on the order. The city’s uncertainty was shared in communities across the state. Gov. JB Pritzker said during a news conference on Tuesday that federal officials have not responded to questions on the status of payments or questions seeking clarity.

McNamara said city staff spent “an incredible amount of time just figuring out what these incredibly ambiguous often incoherent statements mean to all of us so that we can serve our residents.”

“Whoever wins the White House obviously has the full right, in my opinion, to create priorities for our country moving forward,” McNamara said. “I just would think it would be a little bit more thought out with a heck of a lot better communication.”

McNamara on Tuesday pointed to several programs they think could be affected by the freeze. That includes $9 million in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds the city uses help residents in need pay for heating in the winter or other crucial energy costs. It also could affect Community Development Block Grant programs that fund initiatives such as housing rehabilitation, certain infrastructure work and other economic development initiatives.

He said the city received about $60 million in federal assistance a year ago, and about $11 million of that flows from the city to other organizations. That doesn’t include organizations that may win grants directly from the federal government.

“This pause could potentially impact literally thousands and thousands of Rockford residents, hundreds if not thousands of Winnebago County residents,” McNamara said.

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The Office of Management and Budget released a follow-up memo Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to clarify the order, saying the funding pause does not apply across the board. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said earlier in the day on Tuesday that direct assistance to citizens will not be affected.

“It is expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President’s Executive Orders, such as ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest,” the memo stated.

The federal government provided approximately $3 trillion in loans, grants and other assistance last year, according to the OMB’s initial memo. The pause on funding is designed to realign federal spending with President Donald Trump’s priorities.

“Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again,” Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the OMB, said in the memo. “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”

McNamara said, for now, city services funded by the federal government are continuing uninterrupted.

“Right now, we are committed to continue to serve the residents of Rockford with the services they have become accustomed to and also need,” he said. “How long and what date that comes to, we don’t have that date right now.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas