Arizona AG Kris Mayes holds news conference on federal funding freeze

PHOENIX - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes held a news conference on Tuesday to talk about the recently-announced federal funding freeze.

The freeze, which was announced earlier on Jan. 28, was set to take effect at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Those plans, however, were blocked by a federal judge just hours after the freeze was announced.

It immediately sparked confusion and panic among organizations that rely on Washington for their financial lifeline.

What is being affected by the pause?

Big picture view:

Per the Associated Press, the decision by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars of previously allocated funds, and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives.

Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

What they're saying:

"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," said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

At her first press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the president's decision to halt federal grants.

"President Trump is looking out for you by issuing this pause because he is being good steward of your taxpayer dollars," she said. 

She stressed direct aid to individuals like food stamps and Social Security would continue.

"For the past four years we’ve seen the Biden administration spend money like a drunken sailor. It’s a big reason we’ve had an inflation crisis in this country," she claimed.

What we know:

Meanwhile, officials with the Department of Education say the pause does not apply to grants received directly by individuals, which includes more than 40 million Americans with federal student loans and 7 million with federal Pell Grants for low-income students.

Per the AP, the White House has also said that Medicaid would not be affected by the freeze. However, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) claimed that Medicaid portals were down in all 50 states due to Trump's federal funding freeze.

What we don't know:

There was no explanation of whether the pause would affect programs for disaster assistance.

News conference focuses on what the AG intends to do

During her news conference, Mayes announced she would be joining a lawsuit along with 22 other states to prevent the freeze from defending multiple programs and task forces.

What She Said:

"Trump wants to declare these drug cartels terrorist in one breath, and in the next breath, he is defunding our efforts to bring those drug cartels down," said Mayes.

Earlier in the day, Mayes criticized the pause on social media.

"Children could miss out on school lunches, victims of crime could lose critical assistance, and law enforcement agencies could be defunded across the country if it stands," read a portion of a post Mayes made on X (formerly Twitter). "This is a blatant violation of federal law and we will not allow it to stand."

What others are saying:

Dr. Vershalee Shukla of the Vincere Cancer Center is worried about the unclear nature of the executive order.

"It’s huge uncertainty so we don’t know if this is gonna be supported anymore," Shukla said.

The cancer center serves a majority of its firefighting clients through federal programs that might be frozen if the order is reinstated.

"Majority of the rural firefighters and smaller cities do not have it available and those firefighters are dying of cancer and so we’re scared," Shukla said.

Kate Thoene of the New Life Center said 75% of their nonprofit employees are paid through federal grants.

"We really wish that we could just do what we’re best at doing, and that is providing critical services to survivors of domestic violence and victims of crime instead of continuously worrying about funding," said Thoene.

PoliticsDonald J. TrumpArizonaNewsAlerts