Home News City of Okla City gov thrown into confusion by Trump order

City of Okla City gov thrown into confusion by Trump order

0
City of Okla City gov thrown into confusion by Trump order
President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a "Keep America Great" rally at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. Feb 19, 2020. (published under Creative Commons license by Gage Skidmore)

OKLAHOMA CITY — An executive order from the Trump Administration freezing all federal grant funding temporarily sent City of Oklahoma City officials scrambling in confusion Tuesday as programs were threatened.

First announced Monday night, the order from President Trump applied a freeze on all federal grants and loans effective at 5:00pm Tuesday in order for the administration to review grants and ensure that all federal spending is in line with Trump’s agenda.

The announcement sent officials reeling across the nation throughout state and local governments, non-profits, and more.

Oklahoma City Hall
City Hall for the City of Oklahoma City, east side at 200 N. Walker. (B.DICKERSON/Okla City Free Press)

City staff rush to respond

Oklahoma City government department heads spent Tuesday morning in hastily-called meetings to consider programs and agencies that stood to face funding issues during the freeze. 

A swift court order and a clarification by the administration put a pin in the issue for the day.

“This might take some time for us to get a grip on,” City of OKC Public Information Officer Kristy Yager told Free Press early Tuesday morning regarding the extent to which City services and programs might be affected by the order.

A large number of City departments and programs rely heavily on federal grants for operation, though Yager clarified that those funding streams are most commonly used to augment the local funds that still make up the majority of City government finances.

“I would not characterize most City departments as being dependent on grants,” said Yager.

But, the City departments that most commonly apply for – and benefit from – federal grant funding are some of the most vital City services and agencies, including:

  • Airports
  • Public Works
  • Transit
  • Planning
  • Police
  • Fire
  • Utilities

Officials within each of those seven departments spent Tuesday morning preparing to review funding and grant proposals in anticipation of the freeze taking effect later in the day.

Though it’s unlikely that a freeze on federal grants and loans would grind any of those City departments to a halt, they would likely experience noticeable funding shortages which could result in some furloughed workers and service interruptions.

At noon, a highly anticipated White House press briefing cast even more confusion into the day’s events.

At that briefing, Trump Administration officials attempted to clarify that the only federal grants that will be frozen are those that conflict with Trump’s other recent executive orders concerning issues such as immigration, diversity and inclusion programs, environmental initiatives, and the transgender community.

Incoming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt listed a number of federal spending programs that are exempt from the freeze, all of which were individual entitlement programs such as SNAP benefits and Social Security.

State and local government grants and funding were still not directly addressed.

In response to that new information – and with no clear explanation as to the extent of the executive order – Oklahoma City officials continued daily operations in the usual fashion through Tuesday afternoon.

“We are carrying on as normal,” Yager told Free Press at 2:30pm.

Court blocks Trump’s order

Just hours later, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan placed a temporary block on the executive order minutes before it was set to go into effect.

The block is set to remain in effect until Monday in response to a suit brought against Trump’s executive order by the National Council of Nonprofits.

If the spending freeze is allowed to go into effect, the City would likely need to carefully coordinate their review of funding losses and affected departments, said Yager, who continued:

“We might need to bring someone in to try to pull this all together and figure it out just so that seven different departments aren’t going in seven different directions.


Author Profile

Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.