Rep. Sykes Holds Trump Administration Accountable, Fights for Working Americans Amid Federal Funding Freeze
AKRON, OH — Today, U.S. Representative Emilia Sykes (OH-13) issued the below statement about the impact of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) abrupt freeze of all grants and loans dispersed by the federal government on Ohio’s 13th Congressional District. Rep. Sykes is collecting the stories of organizations impacted by the federal grant and loan funding freeze. Please complete the survey or call Rep. Sykes’ office at (330) 400-5350.
This morning, Reps. Emilia Sykes and Shontel Brown (OH-11) hosted a virtual press conference to draw attention to the community programs that will be defunded by President Trump’s Executive Orders and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) memo freezing federal grants and loans. Since the press conference, OMB has announced that they are rescinding the memo that called for government grants and loans to be frozen. Following that announcement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement asserting that this rescinded memo did not rescind President Trump’s Executive Orders regarding federal funding, creating more confusion about the status of funding for impacted programs.
“Since being sworn into office, President Trump and his administration have thrown the country into chaos. This week alone, the president has abruptly released a memo that froze federal grant and loan funding just to release another memo that rescinds the language of the previous memo, but not the actions the memo implements,” said Rep. Sykes. “If that sounds confusing it’s because it is – and it doesn’t come close to the chaos, confusion, and consternation that is being felt by the millions of people that will be affected by these brazen actions. People do not know what is going on, and it is not clear if that is the point or if it is the byproduct of incompetence. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you only have a concept of a plan. These actions are unconscionable and unacceptable.”
Upon the release of the memo from the Office of Management and Budget, Rep. Sykes immediately began reaching out to, and fielding calls from organizations in Ohio’s 13th District to hear how they have been affected.
Some of the impacted organizations include:
- The City of Akron
- The City of Barberton
- The City of Fairlawn
- The City of Silver Lake
- The Village of Clinton
- The Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce
- Akron Urban League
- Family Promise of Summit County
- Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority
- Shelter Care, Inc.
- Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA)
- Stark Economic Development Board
- ACCESS Shelter in Summit County
- Humility for Mary Housing
- The Summit County Court of Clerks
- The Summit County Public Health
- The Good Samaritan Hunger Center
- The Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio
- Project Rebuild
- Canal Fulton Police Department
Rep. Sykes is collecting the stories of organizations impacted by the federal grant and loan funding freeze. Please complete the survey or call Rep. Sykes’ office at (330) 400-5350.
WATCH: Clip of Rep. Sykes’ Opening Remarks from Her Press Conference Call