The Trump administration has ordered a review of federal funding sent to New Jersey and 13 other states, a move that Gov. Mikie Sherrill called “political retribution.”
A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget directs nearly every federal agency to audit grants, loans, contracts and other funding except that from the Defense and Military Affairs departments. OMB says the effort is strictly a data-gathering exercise to identify waste, fraud and abuse. It insists that no funds will be withheld.
The review’s purpose “is to collect a detailed spending report on Federal funds provided to entities in a select list of States,” the memo reads. “This information will be used to better understand the scope of funding in certain States and localities in order to facilitate efforts to reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds through administrative means or legislative proposals to Congress.”
Every state subjected to the review voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, and all but one has a Democratic governor. Washington, D.C., which voted for the former vice president and is led by a Democratic mayor, also will be evaluated.
Democrats are skeptical of the Trump administration’s intent and warn it could be the first step toward funding cuts.
Sherrill told CNN on Thursday the OMB review is the latest example of the administration’s punishing non-supporters.
“We are literally seeing the federal government attacking our states in a politically motivated attack,” Sherrill said. “We shouldn’t be surprised. We saw this in the first Trump administration but it is still breathtaking.”
“I 100% believe it’s about political retribution,” Sherrill added.
The funding review follows repeated threats by President Donald Trump to cut off federal money to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions and states — New Jersey among them — starting Feb.1.
OMB has set a Jan. 28 deadline for states to respond to their data requests.
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