The City and County of Honolulu administration expects another attempt at a federal funding freeze, and is preparing for what could be a more “targeted” approach.
A chaotic Tuesday in the U.S. was highlighted by a Trump administration memo ordering a federal funding freeze that could have threatened benefits for millions of people and efforts by organizations across the nation.
The freeze was blocked by a federal judge, and the administration rescinded the freeze memo the following day.
This week Honolulu City Council heard measures to confirm Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s Cabinet picks, and brought up the potential future loss of federal funding. The confirmation process will continue in the council.
Managing Director Michael Formby told the council that he expects a federal funding freeze to come back in some way, so he’s still “very concerned” about it.
“We’ve been trying to prioritize those federal funds that go to the most needy among us. So, obviously we're looking at our (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) programs, our voucher programs, monies that go to our nonprofits that assist those that are in the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population," Formby said.
“At the state level, they're asking all constituents to go to their legislators when they feel that there are federal funds being cut off that impact their lives, their businesses, their nonprofits," he continued.
He said that Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke asked him to do the same thing with the City Council, so the administration plans on contacting the council to get information about who could be impacted by a freeze on federal funding.
Meanwhile, the councilmembers want the administration’s leadership to figure out how a loss of federal funding could impact their staffing and services.
“So much of our activity is funneled through federal funds. And although we got to stay on that today, my anticipation is there will be more targeted areas,” said Anton Krucky, director of the Honolulu Department of Community Services, during Wednesday’s confirmation. “I have to blanket-wide prepare, and I'll share that preparation with you.”
Andrew Kawano, director of the Honolulu Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, said the future is unclear, but that the city has to prepare.
“The most important thing is that we all communicate, and we continuously set action plans to mitigate the impact, because we really don't know what's going to happen. I'm hopeful that democracy wins in the end and puts guardrails up so we don't go off the deep end, but I don't know,” he said.
