Federal grant freeze has far reaching impact

The potential scope of President Trump’s announced but ill-defined freeze on federal grants and loans is massive.

A federal judge put the freeze on ice minutes before it was to take effect Tuesday, giving worried recipients of federal funding a chance to breathe. The federal government uses grants to fund a dizzying array of programs ranging from highway construction projects that cost $1 billion, to five-figure grants to local police departments for drug-sniffing dogs. Federal grants fund things like early childhood development, veterans care, school lunches, tribal government programs, local police and fire departments, schools and university research.

Federal grants for domestic programs in the U.S. totaled more than $1.2 trillion in fiscal year 2024. Idaho received more than $5 billion of that and Washington received $24 billion, according to usaspending.gov/search. However, the website shows funding that is sometimes awarded across multiple years, making it difficult to discern precise totals for individual years.

Joan Varsek, spokesperson for Idaho Gov. Brad Little, said his office is looking at the state’s grants to ensure they are consistent with President Trump’s policies.

“Governor Little is all in on President Trump’s efforts to rein in federal spending,” she said in an emailed statement. “As Governor Little has stated many times in the past, Idaho is better positioned than any other state to handle changes at the federal level because of how well we have managed government and the budget at the state level.”

Entities in Nez Perce County received $78.3 million in government funding, according to the website, including the City of Lewiston, which received $10,000 to purchase a drug dog, and the Nez Perce Tribe, which gets federal grants for a wide range of programs.

Shannon Wheeler, chairperson of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, said the tribe is looking at the potential impacts on its grants.

“The Nez Perce Tribe has a sovereign-to-sovereign relationship with the United States that is recognized by treaty. We have several grants and agreements with the federal government and are closely evaluating any potential impacts that we may have with the administration’s memorandum and their treaty and trust obligations to the Nez Perce Tribe,” he said in a text message to the Tribune.

Others receiving federal funding include the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, which has won grants to build taxilanes. The YWCA receives grants that it uses to provide shelter for the victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Lewis-Clark State College received $7.2 million in fiscal 2024 grants and the University Idaho brought in more than $72 million, according to the website. LCSC Spokesperson Logan Fowler called the situation “fluid” Tuesday and said the school’s administration was “working through potential implications.”

Washington State University received $241 million in fiscal year 2024 but some of that funding may have been awarded across multiple years. University Spokesperson Phil Weiler said the administration “assembled a team of senior leaders from across the WSU system to monitor, evaluate, and review the possible effects that could flow from recent Executive Orders.” Much of that work was focused on potential impacts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs that have been specifically called out in some of Trump’s executive orders and a memo from the Office of Management and Budget announcing the freeze.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com. Tribune reporter Laura Guido contributed to this report.