by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
There is about $40 million in federal grant funds awarded to the City of Fort Smith in limbo following an executive order by President Donald Trump to freeze certain infrastructure funds tied to bipartisan legislation approved by Congress and signed into law.
Trump’s executive order required federal agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] of 2022 … or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [IIJA].”
The White House later issued this statement in an attempt to clarify the order: “The directive in section 7 of the Executive Order entitled Unleashing American Energy requires agencies to immediately pause disbursement of funds appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58). This pause only applies to funds supporting programs, projects, or activities that may be implicated by the policy established in Section 2 of the order. This interpretation is consistent with section 7’s heading (‘Terminating the Green New Deal’) and its reference to the ‘law and the policy outlined in section 2 of th[e] order.’ For the purposes of implementing section 7 of the Order, funds supporting the ‘Green New Deal’ refer to any appropriations for objectives that contravene the policies established in section 2. Agency heads may disburse funds as they deem necessary after consulting with the Office of Management and Budget.”
Executive order puts Bass Reeves loop, other Fort Smith projects in limbo
