ASHLAND — Ashland County agency officials breathed a sigh of relief — at least momentarily — at the news an executive order freezing federal grants and loans was rescinded Wednesday.
President Trump on Monday ordered a freeze on domestic and foreign federal aid, which was to take effect Tuesday at 5 p.m.
The move would have interrupted or completely stopped up to trillions of dollars of funding for programs ranging from homelessness to transit around the country.
“Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” said Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, in a memo.
Before that happened, however, a federal judge in the District of Columbia issued a temporary stay on the order following a flurry of confusion and criticism among agencies that depend on federal grants and loans.
And on Wednesday, the White House rescinded the whole thing.
Jerry Strausbaugh, executive director of Appleseed Community Mental Health Center, said Wednesday — before news of the Trump administration’s change of direction — the move would “significantly impair the work that many of our program do.”
He said about a third of the agency’s operating budget is made up of federal dollars for housing grants, domestic violence prevention work and drug and alcohol services.
“There’s a tremendous amount of money that does good social work,” he said.
City receives federal funds
But social services aren’t the only agencies that would have been touched by the executive order.
The City of Ashland receives money from the federal government on several projects.
Ashland received a $1.3 million grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation to fund the construction of a new public transit headquarters in 2022.
The project was delayed in 2023, but is now “in the queue,” according to Ashland Mayor Matt Miller.
A freeze on federal grants could have put the project in flux again.
David Ross, executive director of the Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said he took a sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon after hearing the freeze had been rescinded.
“We’re all drinking from the same firehose right now with all the information coming in,” he said. “So it’s definitely something we’re watching.”