Connecticut lawmakers are vowing to fight President Donald Trump's effort to freeze sources of funding for anti-violence efforts and school mental health services. More than a billion dollars in funding nationwide is at stake.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut played a lead role in getting Congress to approve anti-gun violence legislation called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. That legislation included some of the funding the Trump administration is now seeking to cut.
Murphy said the president’s effort to shut down programs midstream is inhumane.
“That is illegal. The president can't do that. Congress came together, passed a bipartisan bill, directed that money flow to these organizations and to school-based mental health,” Murphy said. “The president does not have, under the constitution, the ability to not spend those funds.”
Murphy said he expects lawsuits will be filed in the coming days, asking the courts to order the Trump administration to restore the funding.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal called the cuts stupid and cruel.
“They are also directed against people of color, by an administration that regards equity as a dirty word,” Blumenthal said.
Friday morning, the lawmakers spoke at the nonprofit organization Hartford Communities That Care, which conducts anti-violence efforts. Executive director Andrew Woods said his organization does not receive money affected by the latest White House cuts, but he is concerned about other federal funding that they receive.
Woods said the money allows local groups to hire people who intervene to prevent street violence.
“They would hire additional intervention specialists that can go out and meet individuals at the street level, to do the interventions, prevent retaliations, but also to connect them to the kind of services, wrap around service support,” Woods said. “To get them back engaged academically, get them involved with workforce development and training, to be able to increase their income opportunities to support themselves and their families.”
Supporters of the Trump administration say the federal anti-violence and mental health funding is supporting radicals who are pursuing left-wing diversity efforts.
