Statement From EveryLibrary: “Trump Freezes All Grant Funding to Libraries, Archives, and Museums”

From EveryLibrary (Full Text):

Trump has demanded a freeze on all federal grants and for all agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”

The memo also calls for each agency to perform a “comprehensive analysis” to ensure its grant and loan programs are consistent with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which aimed to ban federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and limit clean energy spending.

Programs affected are “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal.”While this “pause” will negatively impact millions of Americans, it will also considerably impact libraries.

Federal funding for libraries, museums, and archives is guaranteed each year by Congress and authorized under law. The Trump Administration’s January 27th “pause” on distributing federal grant funding to authorized recipients will negatively impact those institutions and their communities

The administration says it will conduct a comprehensive review of grant recipients’ political and social ideology before resuming any funding

Essentially, Trump requires a loyalty test from government agencies before he allows them to resume their work. This is undoubtedly un-American. This action to withhold funds to grant recipients authorized by Congress is also likely illegal.

Source

See Also: Trump Administration Orders Sweeping Freeze of Federal Aid (via Politico)

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Associations and Organizations, Funding, Libraries, News