Environmental defenders warned that the order could have immediate and serious consequences for Americans if it comes into force.
“From the White House, this is the reckless blow of a pen,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement. “On the ground, it is a cold home in the middle of winter. He is a hungry child at school. It is a family that cannot pay the rent. They are higher public services costs for low -income households in all states. “
The list of programs includes dozens throughout the Department of National Security, which includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Samantha Montano, an assistant emergency management professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said that the pause on assistance could effectively stop the agency programs that help state and local governments to prepare and recover from disasters.
“I think it is fair to say that stopping all federal subsidies would have a horrible effect on the United States emergency management system,” he said. “It would make us less prepared for disasters that occur in the future and that would make even more difficult for disaster survivors who are in the midst of trying to rebuild their lives to do so.”
These offices do not focus exclusively on climate -related disasters, Montano said.
“We are also talking about Port Security subsidies, terrorism, cybersecurity,” he added. “This is the complete national security that is put at risk when it eliminates these subsidies.”
Throughout the country, state agencies and non-profit organizations have already been expelled from a federal system to access money from subsidies, said Maria López-Nuñez, agency co-founder, an environmental justice advice firm. He listed a wide range of programs that were potentially affected, from a subsidy in North Carolina to help rural communities obtain access to sewers and clean water to state government programs to place water pipes.
For many smaller profit organizations, a delay in access to the financing of the federal subsidy could leave them unable to make payroll, he said, or complete their programs.
“They are freezing the financing of key and necessary subsidies that many states need for vital services,” said López-Nuñez, a member of the White House Environmental Advisory Council during the Biden Administration.
In North Carolina, where communities are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, a spokesman for the State Environmental Quality Department, or Deq, said the agency “is reviewing and evaluating” the memorandum and its potential impacts, and added: ” The federal funds provide a significant portion of the DEQ operational budget, as well as billions of dollars for the communities of North Carolina. “
The instructions to the agencies listed more than 400 programs under the United States Department of Agriculture, from emergency food assistance to support for farmers and water savings initiatives. There is also one of the largest, popular and effective initiatives of the department, the conservation reserve program.
Many legal experts said they were skeptical about the legality of suspending funds. While some have said presidents You can retain temporarily Spending in some circumstances, others have said that the actions led by the memorandum clearly violate the constitutional limits.
“The law is unequivocal: Congress controls federal expenditure, and no executive action can avoid this authority,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of climate change and environmental justice in lawyers for good governance, in a statement. “This order not only violates the Constitution, but threatens critical programs and communities that depend on this financing, which will affect hundreds of jobs throughout the country.”
The order occurs when some science, environment and energy programs were already suspending their work. Mondays, NPR reported that the National Science Foundation had canceled its panels for reviewing subsidies scheduled for this week. Multiple news organizations have reported that the Department of Energy has suspended billions of dollars in loans, subsidies and other expenses.
Inside Climate News Reporteros Georgina Gustin and Lisa Sorg contributed to this article.
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