It seems the Musk/Trump Administration, through predictable gross incompetence or juvenile defiance, are not fully complying with court orders that mandated them to resume doling out Congressionally approved funding to the states or government agencies.
One of the organizations experiencing funding lapses at some of its entities across the country is Head Start, the Johnson era program that provides monies so poor children can access pre-school opportunities.
According to reporting from NBC News, “45 (Head Start) programs serving 20,000 children in 23 states have faced funding delays, according to the survey.”
Head Start, according to NBC, serves 750,000 children nationwide.
The Musk/Trump Administration, through “The Administration for Children and Families, which oversees Head Start funding and is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that the funding issues were the result of “technical issues” that the payment system experienced last week.”
Those technical issues were a power grab by the Musk/Trump Administration to unilaterally cut approved spending that stiff poor children.
Whether the continuing problems have to do with gross incompetence or juvenile defiance of the courts needs to be flushed out.
In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, along with 26 other Democratic Senators (good luck getting a Republican signing a letter that would irritate their American Duce Dear Leader,) expressed their concerns for the funding lapses in Head Start, requesting (they should have said demanding) action that would:
- “All requests for disbursements of funds submitted through PMS to be promptly processed to allow all Head Start programs to draw down federal funds.
- Programs on the February 1st grant cycle will be notified of their renewal or notice of award before the deadline to ensure no lapse in funding or program operations.
- Transparent and consistent communication with Head Start programs to address the
ongoing challenges.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and other Democratic Attorney Generals took it several steps further.
First, they filed a motion to the courts to enforce the blockading of the Administrations three trillion dollar funding ban and demand that the Trump people disburse the monies.
Along with Head Start, Mayes and the other Democratic Attorney Generals cited financial harm to other vital programs that could compromise the safety and well being of vulnerable Americans like food assistance, drug law enforcement initiatives, patients in community and rural health care facilities, rental assistance, and Medicaid.
Commenting in a press release, Attorney General Mayes stated:
“This funding is owed by law to the people of Arizona. Trump can try every trick he has up his sleeve to evade the constitution but I will be there to stop him. Arizonans who impacted by the Trump administration not complying with this court order, should report any difficulty accessing funds they are owed to my office.”
Mayes also joined another multi-state lawsuit against the Musk/Trump Administration, demanding that Musk and his 20 something cronies not be allowed access to sensitive private information on the country’s citizens.
In a video statement announcing her joining of the lawsuit, Mayes said:
“I’m going to be very blunt. Donald Trump has enabled Elon Musk and his DOGE employees to carry out an all assault, on the privacy rights of American citizens and on the authority of federal agencies. This is not just reckless. It is an affront to the Constitution that every elected official has sworn to protect This is a coup plain and simple Musk and Trump are seizing power they have no legal or moral right to claim. Musk was elected to nothing. Holds no office and has zero legitimate authority to do what he is doing. The actions of DOGE are illegal, illegitimate, and a direct threat to Democracy and the privacy rights of all Americans. That’s why today we sued the Trump Administration and the Treasury Secretary to stop the illegal actions being carried out by an unelected weirdo billionaire and his group of teenage hackers until several days ago in line, with the rule of law, only a limited number of career civil servants with appropriate security, clearances had access to payment systems at the US Treasury. Today, the American People have no assurance that these critical functions are safe and secure or what in the hell, the world’s richest man plans to do with their data. Elon Musk and DOGE are breaking the law. They are trampling on the privacy rights of millions of people, recipients of Social Security, veterans benefits, and federal tax, refunds. Every American has every reason to be deeply concerned and they deserve accountability. To the Arizona, cross the political spectrum who have reached out to my office, know that I am for the third week in a row suing to protect the people of Arizona and the United States Constitution. I will not stop fighting until the Trump Administration stops their unconstitutional actions and starts following the law.
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