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patty murray
Government Watchdog: Trump Administration Illegally Withheld EV Charger Funds
"These bipartisan investments need to start flowing immediately," the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee said of the GAO finding as a lawsuit over the funding got a boost from green groups.
May 22, 2025
Key congressional Democrats on Thursday welcomed a government watchdog's finding that the Trump administration unlawfully withheld appropriated funds for building electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the United States‚ a decision that came as advocacy groups joined a related lawsuit filed by state attorneys general.
Shortly after returning to office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to pause disbursement of funds appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, specifically mentioning the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and one of its agencies, the Federal Highway Administration, in February canceled previously issued guidance for the NEVI program and suspended plans that states had submitted for grant money—which led to calls for Congress to stand up to the administration's "illegal attempts to halt legally mandated funding."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its Thursday decision that the department violated the Impoundment Control Act: "DOT is not authorized to withhold these funds from expenditure and DOT must continue to carry out the statutory requirements of the program. While DOT cannot withhold these funds under the ICA, DOT could propose funds for rescission or otherwise propose legislation to make changes to the NEVI Formula Program for consideration by Congress."
"The Trump administration didn't just break the law—it shortchanged the American people."
Politicoreported that "the GAO could issue similar rulings in the coming months, as the independent, nonpartisan watchdog agency works through at least 39 investigations into whether the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act. GAO rulings are nonbinding but could influence Congress' response to... Trump's freezing of billions of dollars lawmakers intended to flow to specific programs and projects, as well as the many ongoing lawsuits challenging the president's tactics."
In a Thursday statement about the GAO findings, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said, "This legal decision affirms what we've long known: The president is breaking the law to block funding Congress passed on a bipartisan basis and that is owed to the American people—simply because he disagrees with it. This plain fact is unacceptable—and it cannot stand any longer."
"Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by wide margins and specifically provided funding for every state to build out a network of chargers for the electric vehicles that families are increasingly turning to and that are being made right here in America, she continued. "These investments should be getting out the door—creating new jobs and helping Americans get where they need to go without interruption—but President Trump has illegally choked this funding off."
"These bipartisan investments need to start flowing immediately—as do the hundreds of billions of dollars in other investments President Trump is holding up," she added, taking aim at his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director. "I don't care about Russ Vought's personal interpretation of our spending laws; the Constitution is clear, and President Trump simply does not have the power of the purse—Congress does."
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) released a similar statement welcoming the GAO's new legal opinion that "the Trump administration broke the law when it blocked funding that Congress had already approved."
"That money was supposed to build and maintain a nationwide EV charging network—and with it, create good-paying jobs in communities across the country," he stressed. "Instead, the administration stalled economic growth, delayed critical infrastructure, and undermined job creation—all without a shred of legal authority."
"This wasn't just a legal violation. It was an economic setback for American workers, and a direct hit to the communities counting on these investments," Boyle added. "The Trump administration didn't just break the law—it shortchanged the American people."
According to Politico, while the DOT could not be reached for comment, an OMB spokesperson called GAO's opinion "wrong" and said the department is "appropriately using the authority granted to it by statute to review state plans."
Standing up for cleaner vehicles and clean air. @sierraclub.org @climatesolutions.org @earthjustice.org and allies sue Trump Admin for illegally impounding funds that Congress appropriated for EV charging. www.sierraclub.org/press-releas...
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— Ross Macfarlane (@rossmacfarlane.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The attorneys general of 16 states and the District of Columbia disagree, and have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The Sierra Club, CleanAIRE N.C., Climate Solutions, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, Plug In America, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the West End Revitalization Association joined that legal challenge on Thursday.
"Donald Trump is trying to cut jobs, increase pollution, and endanger our health. We refuse to let him," said Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous in a statement. "NEVI benefits everyone, whether you drive an EV or not, and the only people who benefit from blocking it are Big Oil and auto executives seeking to keep us hooked on fossil fuel-powered cars, while communities in every corner of the country lose out on infrastructure investments in our growing clean energy economy."
"The NEVI program is working and states are legally entitled to the money allocated to them by Congress," Jealous added. "Once again, we are taking the Trump administration to court over its reckless and illegal actions."
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Trump Wants to End Head Start While Boosting Military Spending to Record $1 Trillion
"Young learners and families around the country rely on Head Start and eliminating funding for this essential program would be devastating to local communities," warned one critic.
Apr 14, 2025
Critics on Monday decried the Trump administration's consideration of a budget proposal that would completely eliminate funding for the early childhood education program Head Start—which serves over 800,000 low-income U.S. families—while increasing military spending to an unprecedented $1 trillion.
USA Todayreported Friday that an unnamed Trump administration official—who is not authorized to publicly discuss the plan—said the White House's fiscal year 2026 spending proposal contains no funding for Head Start and explicitly lists the program among those slated for elimination.
Head Start is a core component of the so-called War on Poverty launched during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson 61 years ago. More than 40 million children have been served by the program, which provides free meals, healthcare, and developmental assessments and helps youth develop critical skills for success in the classroom and beyond.
The elimination of Head Start is included in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led plan for a far-right overhaul of the federal government whose objectives closely track Trump's policies, despite the president's efforts during his 2024 campaign to distance himself from the deeply unpopular proposal.
Here it is: Republicans told us in Project 2025 that they’d eliminate Head Start. Now, they’re doing it. Their concern for high costs, for kids, for parents — all lies. www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...
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— Katherine Clark ( @whipkclark.bsky.social) April 12, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association, warned that defunding the program would be "catastrophic."
President Donald Trump's evisceration of federal agencies—spearheaded by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE—has already kneecapped Head Start via a Supreme Court-affirmed freeze on grants, the primary source of the program's funding. The Administration for Children and Families, which runs Head Start, is also reeling from the Trump administration's closure of half of its regional offices, including in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Meanwhile, Trump supports a proposed $1 trillion budget for the Pentagon, up from $892 billion for the current fiscal year. The billionaire president and Republicans in Congress are also seeking $4.5 trillion in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans. This, as GOP lawmakers propose slashing $2 trillion in spending for Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other safety net programs.
"While families feel the crunch with a worsening childcare crisis and much higher daily costs thanks to Trump's tariffs, President Trump wants to eliminate Head Start and kick hundreds of thousands of kids out of the classroom, fire teachers, and make childcare and early learning more expensive and less safe," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Monday.
Murray continued:
This administration believes we cannot afford to help families get preschool or help kids get basic health services, but we can afford trillions of dollars more in tax breaks for billionaires. It's offensive and just plain wrong, and let me be clear: Democrats won't let a proposal like this go anywhere in Congress.
But that doesn't mean Head Start and so many other programs aren't under grave threat—because Trump has proven he'll ignore our laws and do whatever he can to break these programs on his own. Trump has already tried illegally blocking funding for Head Start earlier this year, and programs across the country continued having problems accessing their funding long after his administration promised everything was fine. He has already fired the very people who keep Head Start running with no plan in place to ensure hundreds of thousands of families will keep getting the care they count on, so it's on every one of us to keep speaking out and opposing this administration's anti-family, pro-billionaire agenda.
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director of the Seattle-based advocacy group MomsRising, called the proposed elimination of Head Start "an abhorrent attack on children and families, ripping opportunities from our country's youngest, damaging businesses, and hurting our economy."
"Congress must hold the line and protect Head Start," she added.
The First Five Years Fund—which "works to protect, prioritize, and build support for early learning and childcare programs at the federal level"—said Monday on social media that "young learners and families around the country rely on Head Start and eliminating funding for this essential program would be devastating to local communities."
Hailey Gibbs, associate director of the Center for American Progress Early Childhood division, on Monday called Head Start "an incredible program" that "fosters kids' early development, supports family well-being, and boosts local economies."
"The Trump administration and its apologists in Congress want to gut it," Gibbs added. "We must safeguard Head Start and the thousands of families it serves."
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Trump Blasted for Attack on Reproductive Care Across Numerous States
This is "a deeply unpopular and politically motivated attack on Planned Parenthood and reproductive freedom that will disproportionately harm families who are already struggling to make ends meet," said one advocate.
Apr 01, 2025
Critics are decrying the Trump administration's freeze of tens of millions of dollars for the reproductive care provider Planned Parenthood—money that's meant to provide low-income Americans contraception access, cancer screenings, and other crucial services.
Nine Planned Parenthood state affiliates received notice on Monday that the administration is withholding Title X funding effective Tuesday, according to a Monday statement from Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Since 1970, Title X has provided federal funding to a network of grantees who provide sexual and reproductive healthcare with a focus on serving low-income patients.
In total, the Trump administration is withholding payments to 16 Title X providers, perPolitico, citing a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to the journalist Jessica Valenti, 21 states will be impacted, and eight states—California, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, and Utah—will cease receiving Title X dollars.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk are "pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping healthcare access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause," said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, in a statement on Monday.
"We know what happens when healthcare providers cannot use Title X funding: People across the country suffer, cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation's [sexually transmitted infections] crisis worsens," she added.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of the advocacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, called the move "a deeply unpopular and politically motivated attack on Planned Parenthood and reproductive freedom that will disproportionately harm families who are already struggling to make ends meet."
According to a letter sent to Planned Parenthood chapters, which Politicoreviewed, the funding is being "temporarily withheld," citing potential violations of federal civil rights law and Trump's executive orders, including prohibitions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. For example, public statements that emphasize "commitment to Black communities" are cited as evidence of Planned Parenthood's noncompliance, per Politico.
The administration's move to freeze the funding was first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week. The paper reported that HHS was considering a freeze of $27.5 million in grants to groups that would include Planned Parenthood affiliates while the administration investigates whether the money was used on DEI efforts.
In response to that reporting, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement last week that "it's clear Trump and Elon couldn't care less how many people suffer, whose cancer goes undetected, or if women can no longer afford birth control as a result of their deranged mission to attack anything they deem DEI—no matter the consequences to real people's lives, and no matter the fact that this administration can't even define DEI."
Valenti reported Monday that the Title X funding freeze tallies close to $35 million, and highlighted that it will impact not only Planned Parenthood affiliates. One of the impacted organizations is Converge, Inc.—Mississippi's only Title X grantee. According to a letter from HHS obtained by Valenti, Converge, Inc. came under scrutiny in part due to a document titled "Our Commitment to Addressing Systemic Racism."
"Without federal funding—funding that runs out today—they will shutter," wrote Valenti of Converge, Inc. "The 90 Mississippi clinics under their purview will be in jeopardy of closing, and the tens of thousands of women who rely on them for care will have nowhere to go. All because they opposed racism."
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