{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://plaskett.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4577", "PLASKETT RELEASES STATEMENT ON WHITE HOUSE ATTEMPT TO PAUSE FEDERAL FUNDING", "2025-01-28", "2025", "2025-01", "Democrat", "House", "VI", "Stacey E. Plaskett", "P000610", "plaskett.house.gov", "plaskett", "https://plaskett.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx?DocumentTypeID=27", "scraper", "For Immediate Release Contact: Tionee Scotland\n\nJanuary 28, 2025 202-808-6129\n\nPRESS RELEASE\n\nPLASKETT RELEASES STATEMENT ON WHITE HOUSE ATTEMPT TO PAUSE FEDERAL FUNDING\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett, Member of the House Ways & Means, Budget and Intelligence Committees released the following statement in response to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo M-25-13 ordering a wide-ranging pause for many federal grants and loans:\n\n\u201cThis directive from the Trump Administration directs federal agencies to pause spending on all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by President Trump\u2019s Executive Orders, including but not limited to financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, what the federal government may deem as programs which controvert the President\u2019s Executive Orders. Those areas include broadly what may be considered wasteful government spending, DEI and preference programs, gender ideology, immigration matters, and environmental areas to name a few topics which may freeze federal spending or draw down. SNAP, Head Start, Justice Programs, HUD funding, federally funded minority contractors, women\u2019s health programs, our schools which teach Virgin Islands centric history and serve undocumented students, REAP energy programs, rural minority farmers \u2013 are areas we know may be frozen based upon the Trump administration criteria.\n\n\u201cWhile the external discussion has said several of the above programs will not be paused, we have seen some paused around the country already and federal agencies have been given guidance to \u2018unwind objectional policies without pause in payments\u2019 for some programs. My question is what if our schools continue to support undocumented children, teach our true history, give aid to women in need, give preference and special support to previously disenfranchised minority farmers and do not \u2018unwind\u2019 those actions. Will we lose funds?\n\n\u201cThis is a direct attack on the American people. It jeopardizes critical programs that millions of families and countless communities depend on\u2014programs that fund healthcare, education, infrastructure, and public safety. We must remember that Congress holds the power of the purse, and a great deal of the funding the Administration seeks to pause was approved on a bipartisan basis. Distributing this funding to the American people is legally required. I join my colleagues and call on the Administration to immediately reverse this action.\n\n\u201cMy team and I are committed to working with all necessary parties to ensure that we fight back to defend Virgin Islanders and safeguard the federal funding that is constitutionally protected. We are organizing a zoom call with the local agencies and non-government organizations we believe may be affected by this directive. We have been in conversations with Members of the 36th Legislature of the Virgin Islands and will meet this week to discuss the impact of President Trump\u2019s recent actions on our territory.\u201d\n\nThe Democratic Staff of the House Budget Committee previously released a fact sheet explaining unlawful presidential impoundments. The fact sheet details the importance of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and makes clear that the power of the purse rests solely with Congress.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T23:38:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://plaskett.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4577"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0116193443536758, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}