28-01-2025
Milwaukee mayor says federal grant freeze could impair police, water works, lead poisoning prevention
Police. Milwaukee Water Works. Lead poisoning prevention.
All are local government services that could be impaired by a freeze on federal grant funding, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said Tuesday as his administration worked to understand the implications of the freeze that was ordered by the administration of President Donald Trump just to be temporarily blocked by a federal court.
"What's clear is that there's tens of millions of dollars — literally tens of millions of dollars — that are at stake here in Milwaukee," Johnson said in an afternoon press conference before the judge blocked the freeze.
The scrambling at various levels of government followed the issuance of a memo by Trump's budget office directing agencies to pause federal grants Tuesday evening so they can be reviewed to ensure they fit with the new Republican president's priorities.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, called the measure "draconian" and said the consequences of the funding freeze would not be limited to Democratic cities like Milwaukee. She raised concerns about the implications for education, community health centers, the Women, Infants and Children program, the provision of Meals on Wheels and more.
"These people are waiting on (Meals on Wheels) to pull up. They're not in the position to pause eating for 60 days or 90 days or whatever this review will require," Moore said of the program that provides meals to older adults who are homebound.
Johnson, a fellow Democrat, said he and his administration had "serious concerns" and were trying to answer fundamental questions, including how long the freeze would last.
"I'm working with my departments in order to fully analyze and understand how the White House memo might impact the work that they do," he said. "At the same time, I'm working with other local units of government as well as with organizations that represent municipalities in order to strategize on how to mitigate the potential damage a funding pause might cause here and elsewhere in our state and our country."
Milwaukee County was experiencing a similar lack of clarity.
Shortly after Trump's November election, questions swirled at the county level about how the new administration would affect ongoing federally funding projects. For Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the memo reignited those concerns.
Crowley 'is very concerned about the potential impacts to not only County projects and services, but the overall health and safety of Milwaukee County residents, families, and children who rely on federally-funded programs and services,' a statement from his office said.
The statement, however, said that it is 'too soon' to know the impacts that pauses on federal funding could have on county projects and services, including health and human services as well as transportation.
Officials inside the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee are "keeping a close eye on" the federal funding freeze, spokesperson Amy Hall said Tuesday afternoon.
The Housing Authority, which provides about 15,000 Milwaukee residents with housing assistance each year, relies on the federal government for about three-quarters of its annual funding.
The agency operates more than 5,000 rental units across the City of Milwaukee, which are largely rented by low-income, elderly and disabled residents. It also administers about 6,000 Section 8 rent assistance vouchers, which helps low-income individuals and families afford their rent.
Hall said it was still unclear how the White House's order would affect the Housing Authority and its tenants, but called the situation "very concerning," given the agency's reliance on federal funds.
A spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department deferred comment to the Mayor's Office when asked how the department could be affected by the freeze.
The city's police department receives some federal funding through initiatives like the COPS grant, a U.S. Department of Justice program that provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire officers. Other grants include funding from things like the JAG grant, which was conveyed in 2021 and was slated to run through 2025.
In December, the city approved a $6.25 million COPS grant to fund 50 new police officers.
It was not immediately clear how the COPS grant funding would be affected.
"This is the problem, right, is that there's so many unanswered questions about how this impacts us at the local level," Johnson said. "If there's a pause on this and there are officers who are presently being funded by a grant, what does that mean?"
Moore noted the dollars that are being frozen have already been appropriated by Congress.
"These are dollars that have been debated, they've been debated, they've passed both the House and the Senate. ... The power of the purse starts in the House of Representatives of which I'm a member, and this is law," she said.
Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee mayor: Federal grant freeze could impair police, water works
