Colorado will lose more than $13.1 million in federal funding for programs that help schools and food banks buy produce and other items from local farms and ranches, Gov. Jared Polis announced Wednesday.

The cuts come because the U.S. Department of Agriculture slashed two programs — the Local Food for Schools and Local Food Purchase Assistance initiatives — that together spent more than a $1 billion each year on schools and food banks, Reuters reported.

Colorado was set to receive $5.9 million for school districts and $1.7 million for child care centers through the Local Food for Schools program, the governor’s office said. The state also was expecting $5.5 million through the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, which supports farmers and helps supply food banks.

“By cutting this funding, the Trump administration is taking away healthy meals from school children and slashing contracts Colorado farmers depend on to support their businesses and workers,” Polis said in a statement. “Instead of helping communities put food on the table, this decision pulls resources from schools, food banks and Colorado families.”

Colorado school districts used the federal program to purchase local food and support “socially disadvantaged” and small farmers, producers and ranchers, according to the USDA’s website.

Previously, 33 school districts received more than $2.6 million between Sept. 1, 2022, and Feb. 29, 2024, said Jeremy Meyer, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Education.

Districts that previously received money from the program include Denver Public Schools, Cherry Creek School District, Mesa County Valley School District 51 and Roaring Fork School District. Boulder Valley School District received the most money — $986,462 — from the program, according the state education department.

DPS, the state’s largest district, received $106,400 from the program to buy local produce but did not anticipate further funding after the grant ended last year because of “the size of our school district,” spokesman Scott Pribble said.

Mandy Nuku, executive director of Feeding Colorado, which represents the state’s five food banks, said she was concerned about the elimination of the Local Food Purchase Assistance program during a time of increased need for food banks’ offerings.

“An important source of support for our Colorado producers is gone, and a point of access to fresh, local foods for neighbors will no longer be available,” Nuku said in a statement. “This program provided a solution to one of the biggest challenges for small and midsize farms — market access.”

Updated 6:30 p.m. March 12, 2025: This story has been updated with revised figures provided by Gov. Jared Polis’s office.

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As advocates for family farmers and ranchers, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU) strongly opposes the proposed slaughterhouse ban that will be on the ballot in Denver this fall. Initiated Ordinance 309 would be tremendously detrimental to family farms and ranches across Colorado and harm consumers, our local economy and the broader agricultural industry.

This measure targets just one single employee-owned facility in Denver — Superior Farms. The closure would result in the loss of ownership stake and financial stability for the employee-owners. With a more than 80% Latino/Latina workforce at the targeted facility, the negative impacts of this ban would largely fall on the hard-working shoulders of Denver’s minority communities.

Many of these workers have been at the facility for decades, and others have generational ties to their company. The ban targets these workers — and only these workers — stripping them of their ownership stake and undermining the investments they have made in their skilled labor and financial security. The loss of these skilled, good-paying jobs from the Denver workforce would be virtually impossible to refill.

We also oppose the ban because it would threaten the local food system, cause increased food costs and reduce market opportunities for local agricultural producers.

The group behind the ban has a goal of ending animal agriculture in the United States and is asking voters to force a single Denver business to close in service of that goal. It’s a misguided attempt to impose a belief system on consumers via ballot measure.

If the Denver ban passes, people would still eat meat, but 160 employees would be out of work. Meanwhile, a recent Colorado State University study shows that the ban could threaten an additional 2,700 jobs and upward of $861 million in economic activity. These are jobs, opportunities and economic losses that the City and County of Denver and its citizens should not vote away. These include the independent and family ranchers and farmers we represent, truckers, distributors, retailers, butchers and restaurant owners.

The lamb processed in the Denver plant comes largely from the surrounding regions, and the meat is sold to many local restaurants and markets. While this plant’s closure will not change consumer behavior or demand for the product, it will shift the food supply from local producers to foreign suppliers.

In 2023, about 240 million pounds of lamb was imported into the U.S., largely from Australia and New Zealand, while about 114 million pounds of lamb was processed in federally inspected plants in the United States. There being limited excess capacity in the United States, rather than having access to locally sourced food and supporting local farmers and ranchers, Denver voters will be voting to pay higher prices for meat produced and processed in other parts of the world, frozen, put on ships, and delivered halfway around the globe. All this will mean burning more fuel and expending more resources to get it here. This is wrong for the environment and wrong for Denver.

For these reasons, we stand behind our family farmers and ranchers, and other local food producers who rely on Superior Farms, in opposing this ban.

We stand behind the 160 employee-owners who work hard and take pride in their company.

We stand behind our local food system.

We stand behind consumers and their choice to support local communities through local food sources.

Passing the slaughterhouse ban is wrong for working families, wrong for animal welfare, wrong for the environment, and wrong for the economy. We urge Denverites to vote “no” on it this November.

Chad Franke of Lander, Wyoming, is the president of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, a grassroots family farm and ranch organization serving Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

Editor’s note: A guest column in favor of Ordinance 309 was previously published on Oct. 18, 2024.

The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.

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A court ruling Monday has big implications for Colorado. A federal judge will decide whether the Trump administration can temporarily pause federal grants and loans that don’t align with his agenda.

Federal funding makes up 20%-40% of Colorado’s state budget in any given year, helping pay for everything from food banks and foster care to public health and crop protection.

CBS

In 2023 — the most recent data available – the state received $18 billion from the federal government. $1.2 billion went to K-12 schools, $628 million to transportation projects and $380 million to early childhood programs. Colorado municipalities, counties and nonprofits also receive hundreds of millions of dollars.

“These are real people. These are read families,” said Democratic state Sen. Jeff Bridges, Chair of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.

He notes this year’s budget has a shortfall of about $1 billion.

“Making those cuts is already hard enough. If we are now losing billions of dollars in federal support, in federal investment into our state? That is a whole other scale,” Bridges said.

A memo from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget ordered federal agencies to analyze all financial assistance programs to make sure they comply with President Trump’s new executive orders, specifically those regarding “foreign aid, DEI (diversity equity and inclusion), woke gender ideology and the Green New Deal.” The budget office gave agencies until Feb. 10 to report programs that didn’t comply and temporarily pause federal funding to them in the meantime.

“We’ve got a crisis of priorities right here in this state and it seems like the president is saying the same thing about their budget,” said Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer. “He’s going through and basically doing what I’m going to call strategic budgeting.”

File photo image shows the Colorado Joint Budget Committee CBS

Kirkmeyer — who sits on the Joint Budget Committee with Bridges — says it would have been nice to get a heads-up from the administration, but she says there’s no reason to panic.

“I would tell everybody ‘Take a deep breath. Let us start sorting this out,'” she said.

But some Medicaid providers in Colorado did panic when they were locked out of a portal they use for authorization for several hours.

“We need to know what the real plan here is and what’s actually going to happen,” said Bridges. “You have to be thoughtful. These are people’s lives. These are people’s livelihoods.”

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget says the pause should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law,” but Democrats in Congress say the president has no legal authority to stop or pause funding appropriated by Congress.

The budget office memo says the federal government issued $3 trillion in grants and loans last year. It’s unclear how much of that funding would be impacted by a temporary pause, should it take affect next week.

Colorado’s attorney general joined other states in filing a lawsuit to reverse the temporary freeze as well.

UPDATE on Jan. 29, 11:47 a.m.: Trump White House rescinds order freezing federal grants after widespread confusion

A federal judge temporarily halted a Trump Administration freeze Tuesday on federal grants and loans that could total trillions of dollars.

U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the action , minutes before it was set to go into effect. The administrative stay pauses the freeze until Monday.

The ruling came as the spending freeze threatened to cut into Medicaid operations, education, transportation, law enforcement and other areas in Colorado and across the U.S.

The Trump administration earlier in the day ordered an indefinite pause on a wide array of federal grants, loans and assistance, excluding Medicare and Social Security starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said Tuesday that he will join other state attorneys general in suing over the freeze.

“The Trump White House freeze on congressionally mandated federal aid is reckless and unprecedented,” Weiser said in a statement. “This action takes the power of the purse away from Congress, violates the separation of powers, and is already causing massive harm in Colorado.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis echoed Weiser’s comments in a statement of his own.

“Governing is about delivering real results for the people we serve, not sowing chaos,” Polis said. “This indefinite pause in Congressionally appropriated federal funding hurts children and hardworking families, jeopardizes American jobs and businesses, harms hospitals and safety net health providers, threatens road and bridge repairs, and impacts countless other programs.”

Colorado government agencies and programs receive billions of dollars every year in federal dollars — roughly $13 billion in this year’s budget, for instance, making up nearly one-third of the state’s total revenue.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, here shown announcing a prior lawsuit against the Trump administration in 2019 at the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)

Trump administration officials said the decision was necessary to ensure that all funding complies with the president’s executive orders, which are intended to undo progressive steps on transgender rights, environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, efforts.

They also said that federal assistance to individuals would not be affected, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, student loans and scholarships.

However, the funding freeze could affect trillions of dollars, at least temporarily, 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. State agencies and early education centers appeared to be struggling to access money from Medicaid and Head Start, stirring anxiety with answers hard to come by in Washington.

The issue dominated the first briefing held by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She said the administration was trying to be “good stewards” of public money by making sure that there was “no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness.”

“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,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Vaeth said all spending must comply with Trump’s executive orders. “Each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.” He also wrote that the pause should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

The order set off a panic Tuesday at the state Capitol, where top lawmakers and budget officials were left to contemplate worst-case scenarios with little to no guidance from the federal government.

“We are still in the early phases of assessing the scope of what it is — what are the holes that we need to plug?” said Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat who serves on Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee. “We don’t even know that yet.”

Absent clear direction from the Trump administration, lawmakers said they spent the day hearing from service providers, who contract with the state to provide a wide range of federally funded programs, including temporary housing for domestic violence victims and behavioral health care for veterans.

“Those folks don’t know that they have dollars to pay their paychecks, let alone funding to be doing what they’re doing with our veterans,” House Speaker Julie McCluskie said at an afternoon press conference.

“This has disrupted people’s lives,” McCluskie said. “This has created fear in our communities. This is the most irresponsible act of the moment from a president who doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, elected in November to represent the 8th Congressional District, said in a social media post that the temporary freeze is merely intended to give the White House time review where the government is overspending. Agencies, he said, must report their spending by Feb. 10.

“I’m supportive of reviewing where our government is too bloated or spending on frivolous initiatives, such as DEI,” he said. “This is something the American people want.”

He also noted the order is very general. “The inflammatory, fear-based language you are hearing from the left doesn’t help anyone, nor is it based on fact at this point.”

Evans said he is particularly anxious for guidance from the administration on how veterans may be impacted, but said programs that directly pay individuals will not be affected.

“It sounds like the biggest impacts will be to foreign aid and nongovernmental organizations,” he said.

But the order’s unclear parameters led to confusion across federal and state governments.

Is Medicaid impacted?

That confusion hit Colorado’s Medicaid agency early, leading to 24 hours of uncertainty over whether the program’s federal funding had been cut off.

Medicaid is a joint program between the state and the federal government to provide health coverage to people who have low incomes or who are disabled. Typically, the state and the feds split the cost of medical care for Medicaid members 50/50, though the federal government picks up a larger share in some cases.

All Medicaid payments are directed through state agencies — doctors and hospitals do not get paid directly by the federal government. To collect the feds’ share of the spending, states use an online portal to submit requests for funding.

On Monday, state officials noticed that a previously submitted funding request did not hit the agency’s bank account as expected, said Marc Williams, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which runs Medicaid in Colorado. Then, on Tuesday morning, state Medicaid officials were unable to access the federal payment portal.

“It would crash,” Williams said. “We would get a system error or message.”

Shortly after 1 p.m., the system came back online, Williams said. That coincided with the White House Office of Management and Budget issuing a memo stating that Medicaid was not to be affected by the freeze. The memo said the SNAP food assistance program was also excluded.

Williams said the state is now able to submit funding requests as normal.

“We have nothing to suggest right now that we’re not going to get paid,” he said.

Leavitt wrote in a post on X that Medicaid payments “are still being processed and sent.”

Medicaid enrollees were not affected by the stop, and Williams said the state should still be able to get payments out to medical providers on time.

Though Medicaid and Medicare appear to be exempt from the freeze, other forms of funding that hospitals and medical clinics receive directly from the federal government may be impacted, said Cara Welch, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association. This includes medical education programs, programs that help hospitals prepare for emergencies, programs to battle substance use disorders and certain funding for clinics that serve predominantly lower-income and disadvantaged populations.

Welch said the hospital association is preparing a survey to send to its members to get a better picture of all the areas impacted.

Impact on research funding

The freeze also potentially affects funding for research through the National Institutes of Health.

The NIH is a powerhouse biotech funder in the United States, issuing more than $37 billion in grants to more than 2,800 entities in the 2024 federal fiscal year, which ended in September. Of the 47 grant recipients in Colorado, the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus — officially part of CU-Denver — receives by far the most.

The campus took in nearly $350 million in NIH grants last fiscal year, about 60% of the total NIH funding that came to Colorado. CU-Anschutz ranked 27th nationally for NIH funding — though far behind the roughly $860 million that first place Johns Hopkins University received.

The Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora is part of University of Colorado Denver. (Glenn Asakawa, University of Colorado, file)

In a statement, a campus spokesman said: “The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is evaluating relevant executive orders in coordination with CU system, other CU campuses and higher education groups.”

Other major recipients of NIH funding in Colorado included CU-Boulder, Colorado State University, National Jewish Health, the University of Denver and two private companies: Denver-based software company Palantir Technologies and Crestone Inc, a Boulder-based biopharmaceutical company.

The freeze could also affect oil and gas research at universities like CSU, which earlier this month announced a $326 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy to help oil and gas companies improve their methane emissions nationwide.

Student loans, Pell Grants not expected to be impacted

Officials from the Colorado Department of Higher Education anticipate that students receiving federal financial aid will not lose out during Trump’s temporary pause. That includes students who get federal student loans and those who have been awarded Pell Grants, which help low-income students cover higher education costs, including tuition and room and board.

Department spokesperson Megan McDermott pointed to information from a memo from the federal Office of Management and Budget.

The federal memo states that the freeze does not impact programs “across the board.”

“It is expressly limited to programs, projects and activities implicated by the President’s Executive Orders, such as ending DEI, the Green New Deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest.”

The memo also notes that any program funneling “direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause.” Pell Grants and financial student loans directly go to students.

Last year, federal student aid in Colorado, including Pell Grants and federal loans, totaled nearly $1.5 billion, according to figures provided by CDHE.

The department is communicating with college and university presidents and business executives about potential impacts of the temporary funding pause, McDermott wrote in an emailed statement.

Higher education leaders across Colorado on Tuesday began trying to piece together what suspended federal dollars would mean for their students and campuses.

A spokesperson for the University of Colorado wrote in an emailed statement that CU’s “legal team and Office of Federal Government Relations are working to analyze the potential impact on all four of our campuses.”

CU was the focus of an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, “How DEI conquered the University of Colorado,” that used hiring records from the Boulder campus to frame an argument for why “ideological discrimination” must be ended in higher education.

Leaders at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley said they have many unanswered questions about how some of Trump’s executive orders, actions and push to halt funding will affect could affect the university’s research and scholarships, for example, campus spokesperson Deanna Herbert told The Sun in a statement.

“Our leadership team is closely monitoring all actions at the federal and state levels that may impact UNC and members of our university community,” Herbert said. “As the landscape evolves and where specific modifications are required, we will continue to offer appropriate updates, resources and guidance to our university community.”

A spokesperson from the Colorado Community College System, composed of 13 community colleges, said that in addition to federal financial aid being spared from the freeze, benefits for military veterans will also be protected. Staff whose positions are being funded by federal grants during the pause will also not be impacted.

“We are committed to keeping our campus community informed as we learn more,” spokesperson Pam Parker wrote in an emailed statement.

“This is new territory” for K-12 schools

The state education department said it does not believe that Trump’s freeze of federal funding will impact programs that serve Colorado’s most vulnerable students, including kids from low-income families, students with disabilities and children learning English.

In an email Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova sent to district superintendents and other education leaders Tuesday morning, she relayed information the state education department received earlier in the day from the Council of Chief State Schools Officers.

“Our best understanding is that the Office of Management and Budget’s memo ordering federal agencies to ‘temporarily pause’ activities related to obligations or disbursement of federal financial assistance will not impact federal formula funds that have already been obligated and awarded,” Cordova’s email stated. “Our interpretation is formula funds such as ESSER, ESEA, and IDEA would be exempt from this pause.”

ESSER refers to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, a federal program launched during the pandemic to support schools in continuing to educate students throughout COVID and aid them with academic recovery efforts.

ESEA, or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is the federal K-12 education law, which requires states to measure how students perform in reading, math and science and develop a state report card that informs parents of test outcomes in reading, math and science, among other requirements.

And IDEA — Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — is a federal law guaranteeing children with special needs a public education along with additional support and services they need to succeed in school.

In a separate statement, the state education department acknowledged that it is aware of Trump’s intention to temporarily freeze activities backed by federal funds.

“We are working to understand potential implications of this ‘pause’ and will share more information as soon as we have it,” department spokesperson Jeremy Meyer wrote in the statement.

Meanwhile, it’s unclear what could happen to other education programs that rely on federal funding. But Head Start, a federal program that helps families living in poverty access early childhood education, is exempt from the freeze, according to a follow-up memo distributed by the White House.

A Centennial Elementary School staff member wheels lunches through the cafeteria at the Harrison School District 2 school in Colorado Springs in this 2021 photo. (Mark Reis, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Head Start funding does not flow to schools through the Colorado Department of Education, said Tracie Rainey, executive director of the nonprofit Colorado School Finance Project.

Schools have yet to understand whether that program funding will be interrupted by Trump’s aim to freeze federal funds, Rainey said.

Another program clouded by uncertainty is the National School Lunch Program, which is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That program ensures children have access to free or low-cost, nutritional school meals.

The pause “has the potential to impact families, which then impacts education secondarily,” Rainey said. “And also at this point, we don’t really know what that’s going to look like, but any services that are being provided to families dependent on it have a rippling effect when it comes to schools.”

“This is new territory,” she added.

Van Schoales, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center, called Trump’s plan to temporarily halt federal funding “outrageous and irresponsible and careless.”

“I think that there are commitments that the federal government has made to serve kids, students and so I don’t think that a president should have the right to unilaterally deny those services after having made commitments to provide those services,” Schoales said. “These were not programs that were ever debated or discussed in the election. They are not partisan programs.”

“Irresponsible” disruption in a challenging housing market

Tuesday morning, staff at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless found themselves locked out of both the U.S. Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development systems, which are needed to help clients with health care and shelter.

They were able to get back into the health services system by mid-afternoon to “draw down some of our previously awarded funds which will hopefully ensure we have the money to pay for health care supplies and staff,” said Cathy Alderman, a coalition spokesperson.

But the chaos continues. They haven’t been able to access HUD, which is vital around this time of the month in order to tap funding to help clients pay rent and utility bills due on Feb. 1.

The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless on Champa St. in Denver. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

“This is extremely unsettling for us and our clients and could lead to eviction notices and additional housing instability if not resolved,” Alderman said in an email. “It also doesn’t speak well of the federal government who now appears to be an uncertain payor to landlords across the country. And, in the long term, it could lead to fewer landlords being willing to partner with the federal government on the acceptance of housing vouchers which could be devastating for low- income households who already face significant barriers to accessing affordable housing — especially in high-cost housing markets like Colorado.”

The organization distributes 1,800 tenant vouchers, which cover single residents and households. As of 3:30 p.m. Alderman said HUD confirmed that project-based vouchers, or those attached to a specific building, are not impacted. But HUD hasn’t yet said whether individuals can still use their vouchers.

She called the disruption “irresponsible” because the impacts are immediate.

“Governments can certainly make changes to their priorities and funding parameters but they should do so in a thoughtful and planned manner so as not to disrupt entire systems and put people’s lives and stability at risk,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story, which is developing and will be updated.

Confusion.

That was the main result of a Trump Administration two-page memo issued Monday night to halt federal grants, loans and other federal financial assistance as of 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Before that deadline arrived, additional guidance scaled back the scope of the freeze and a federal judge ordered the money to temporarily keep flowing as states and others challenged the legality of the policy.

Through all of that, Colorado’s Democratic lawmakers have been fielding lots of questions about the pause in federal funding.

“My office is getting calls from many local non-profits fearful their work will be impacted,” said Democratic Rep. Jason Crow on social media. “I’ve raised serious concerns with the Trump administration about these latest actions and how they’ll hurt our community.”

The original memo was vague and broad, saying it would pause “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance,” money that was already approved by Congress. It exempted payments “directly to individuals,” as well as Medicare and Social Security benefits.

The Trump administration on Tuesday afternoon issued new guidance, trying to clarify that the freeze would not be across the board, but limited to programs and activities “implicated” by Trump’s Executive Orders, such as those ending federal DEI efforts, rolling back climate efforts, and halting funding for NGOs “that undermine the national interest.” The guidance also clarified that mandatory programs, such as SNAP, would continue without pause.

It didn’t stop congressional phones from ringing off the hook.

For example, many educators woke up Tuesday morning worried the pause in funding would impact Head Start funding. Colorado receives more than $119 million for 11,600 low-income children from birth to kindergarten through federal grants. The program has about 5,000 staff members across Colorado.

“We support the process to make government more efficient, but we are also an exemplar for making sure that the funds get to working families and help them achieve their goals,” said William Browning, president and CEO of Clayton Early Learning in Denver.

Courtesy of Chalkbeat A staff member works with preschoolers at Educare Denver at Clayton Early Learning.

The group gets about 45 percent of its budget through federal Head Start grants to support about 450 kids. The program had already drawn down its monthly funding so it wouldn’t have been immediately impacted. Still, it took the updated guidance Tuesday afternoon for the organization to learn that funds for Head Start programs were exempted.

Colorado’s Department of Early Childhood said the payment portal for programs appeared to be temporarily shut down before reopening Tuesday afternoon.

No other presidential administration has done a sweeping freeze of congressionally approved spending like this in recent memory.

As part of the funding freeze, the Office of Management and Budget sent a 51-page spreadsheet to all federal agencies, requiring them to enter information on whether any of their programs run counter to policies laid out in Trump’s executive orders. The survey covers everything from military construction projects to agricultural risk programs and reimbursements for wolf-related livestock losses, with information due by Feb. 10.

Many Colorado Democrats condemned the attempted pause in funding

The dean of the delegation, Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette called Trump’s move “unconstitutional” and said it would hurt “ALL Americans in both red and blue states.”

“His administration is holding up Congressionally-approved bipartisan funding, and it’s going to make life harder for American families across our country and abroad,” DeGette said in a statement. “Nothing about these latest actions will help to lower the cost of living for my constituents or anyone in the United States, and it will even worsen the affordability crisis we are experiencing. These actions set a dangerous precedent that erodes our system of checks and balances.”

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse also condemned the directive shortly after it came out. “The order threatens funding for law enforcement grants, farmers, Head Start programs for children, and countless other services and programs that Coloradans rely upon. House Democrats will stand firm in defending American taxpayers by opposing this unconstitutional order and utilizing every legislative tool available to uphold the rule of law.” The later clarification again indicated that Head Start would not be impacted.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to stop the pause.

“This action takes the power of the purse away from Congress, violates the separation of powers, and is already causing massive harm in Colorado, undermining delivery of healthcare, education, and public safety,” he said in a statement. “This government funding shutdown is illegal and must be stopped by the courts.”

A federal judge suspended the funding freeze as the litigation plays out.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, a strong Trump supporter, defended the administration’s move. She urged people not to listen to the “fearmongering of Democrats” saying the policy was “narrow in scope.”

Hart Van Denburg/CPR News Republican Lauren Boebert with a Make America Great Again hat, at a watch party in Windsor, Colorado, on Election Day evening as she awaited results that will determine whether she represents the Fourth District in the U.S. House.

“This is a necessary, temporary pause for specific programs listed under Executive Orders that must be evaluated as part of following through on President Trump’s promise to cut wasteful spending; our office is working with constituents to address concerns and provide more information as we receive it,” she said.

A Boebert spokesperson said they haven’t gotten many calls about the freeze, but are sharing the guidance they received from the Administration with those that have reached out.

GOP Rep. Gabe Evans stressed the freeze is temporary and “designed to give time for the White House to review where the government is overspending.”

“This is a general memo with very little specifics. The inflammatory, fear-based language you’re hearing from the left doesn’t help anyone, nor is it based in fact,” he said in a social media post. He added he is waiting on more guidance from the White House on how it will affect veterans and student loans, among other issues.

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said government is about delivering results, “not sowing chaos.”

“These federal investments help people and support good-paying jobs and our economy, and this sloppy action creates confusion that distracts from Americans’ real challenge,” he said in a statement.

Hundreds of billions, even trillions of dollars flow from Washington to state and local governments, nonprofits, contracts and many others each year. And even with the clarification, many are left wondering if their funding will be impacted should the freeze eventually be implemented.

Assessing the potential impacts in Colorado:

Small businesses and economic development:

In a statement sent before the clarifying memo, the CEO of the advocacy group the Small Business Majority said any freeze in loans from the Small Business Administration would have “a devastating impact” nationwide. The SBA is a federal agency that provides loans and other aid to small businesses across the U.S. The agency’s disaster loans help companies rebuild after events like fires and hurricanes.

“The timing could not be worse. Countless businesses in California, Texas, North Carolina and Florida are struggling to rebound from major natural disasters,” Small Business Majority CEO John Arensmeyer said in an emailed statement.

However, the clarifying memo specified that “funds for small businesses” would not be impacted, and “If agencies are concerned that these programs may implicate the President’s Executive Orders, they should consult OMB to begin to unwind these objectionable policies without a pause in the payments.

A spokesperson for Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade said in a statement, “We are working with the Governor’s Office to monitor the federal funding freeze and document the full scope of OEDIT programming that could be affected. Our teams and programs promote economic growth and long-term job creation across the state, and we will continue that important work while also assessing opportunities to protect any affected programming.”

Colleges and universities:

In higher education, the federal freeze will not impact Pell Grants for low-income students or student loans made under Title IV or the Higher Education Act. It’s unclear if grants to researchers or other grants specifically for Hispanic-serving institutions — a federal designation — will be impacted.

“While it’s too early to determine the full financial impact, the university is proactively assessing potential effects on institutional grants and programming while continuing to fulfill its academic and statutory mission,” said a statement from Metropolitan State University of Denver. The university has received more than $14 million in federal funding as part of its Hispanic-Serving designation since 2019.

Several Colorado institutions, including Colorado State University, University of Colorado and Colorado School of the Mines, receive substantial federal support for research activities.

“This issue is rapidly evolving, and we recognize the uncertainty and worry our campus communities are experiencing,” said Jeremy Hueth, with the University of Colorado’s legal counsel, in a memo to campus leaders. It asked faculty to continue work as usual until there is further guidance issued.

It said it’s unclear whether federal GEAR UP grants, which prepare low-income middle and high school students to enter postsecondary education, are impacted.

In a message to CSU staff and faculty today, President Amy Parsons said there are many outstanding questions about the scope and implications of the memo.

Jenny Brundin/CPR News A Colorado State University sign.

“At this point, we ask all faculty and staff to continue with normal day-to-day activities, unless you have explicitly been directed otherwise by university leadership or a federal agency,” it said. “CSU will communicate directly with campus stakeholder groups as we learn more and receive specific guidance.”

In her message, Parsons said some CSU researchers have received stop-work orders related to diversity, equity and inclusion activities connected to sponsored projects.

For K-12 education, the temporary pause won’t impact millions of dollars targeting students in high-poverty schools and students with disabilities. Those include Title I programs and funds dispersed through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The funding pause applies only to discretionary grants at the Department of Education.

“These will be reviewed by Department leadership for alignment with Trump Administration priorities,” said Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann in a statement. “The Department is working with OMB to identify other programs that are not covered by the memo.”

Discretionary grants are awarded through a competitive process.

Food Banks

Food Bank of the Rockies CEO Erin Pulling said the impacts from any pause are yet to be determined, but that an estimated 20 percent of the organization’s food and funding come from the federal government.

Food banks across the state, regardless of their size, told CPR News their main concern is what would happen if a pause is put on The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which is funded by the farm bill. According to the Colorado Department of Human Services, more than 30 percent of all the food is distributed by the state’s food banks and up to 50 percent of all food in food pantries comes from the program.

Right now, the Food Bank of the Rockies estimates between 15 and 20 percent of its overall food supply comes from TEFAP.

“If that is ceased, that does have implications to our operations,” Pulling said. “And in the immediate future, how much we’re relying on the generosity of the public so that there are no disruptions in service.” An estimated 11.2 percent of Coloradans are food insecure.

Nonprofit organizations:

The Colorado Nonprofit Association said news of the pause resulted in numerous inquiries about local impacts Tuesday morning.

“Beyond the crippling impact to our sector, the directive perpetuates a harmful narrative, suggesting nonprofits are responsible for the challenges our nation faces rather than being vital partners in addressing them,” said CEO Paul Lhevine.

The Boys and Girls Club in metro Denver told CPR News it was still waiting on clarification from national leadership on how programs might be immediately affected.

“These actions represent an unprecedented attack on the nonprofit sector,” Lhevine said. “The Colorado Nonprofit Association remains steadfast in our commitment to advocate for our sector and counter these harmful policies through collaboration and action.”

Transportation:

Denver International Airport officials said Tuesday they were working to determine if the freeze could potentially impact their operations.

“DEN will work closely with the new administration just as we have with all prior administrations to ensure we serve the traveling public in a safe and optimal manner,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

At the state’s largest public transportation provider, the Regional Transportation District in Denver, officials said they did not anticipate an immediate impact on its services, initiatives or projects “in the short term” should the pause be reinstated.

“RTD will continue to work closely with federal officials and industry stakeholders to determine any potential future impacts,” agency spokesman Stuart Summers wrote in an email.

A Colorado Department of Transportation spokesperson said it received $851 million last year from the federal government, to “maintain Colorado’s roads and bridges, protecting Coloradans and saving Coloradans time and money on the roads. We are evaluating funds impacted by these actions but a delay of funds to fix our roads and bridges will cost Coloradans money through more traffic, and increased car repairs.”

CPR reporters Haylee May, Jenny Brundin, Sarah Mulholland, and Nathaniel Minor contributed to this story.