Trump grant cuts hit USD 177 billion across all 50 states, tracker shows

The Trump administration has cut or frozen up to USD 177 billion in federal grants since President Donald Trump began his second term, according to a tracking tool released on Wednesday by the pro-democracy nonprofit States United Democracy Centre and Grant Witness, a group of researchers and scientists.

The groups said the disruptions affected all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with health, nutrition, the environment and disaster relief accounting for the biggest share. They said the total amounted to nearly 10 per cent of federal discretionary spending.

According to the groups, grants that were eliminated, frozen or delayed included funding linked to maternal health in Michigan, education research in Mississippi and assistance to minority farmers in Iowa. California, Texas, New York, Illinois and North Carolina recorded the highest amounts of interrupted grant money. The tracking tool is called Lost Funds.

"By bringing thousands of funding disruptions from the Trump administration together in a publicly accessible, verified database, Lost Funds puts the magnitude of their impact on full display," Scott Delaney, co-founder of Grant Witness, said in a statement.

The organisers of the tracker said the disrupted grants went beyond the kind of cuts that usually take place when administrations change.

"Lost Funds shows the extraordinary scale and real human impact of these disruptions, and how states are once again on the front lines protecting their residents," said Kelly Rader, research director at the States United Democracy Centre.

In some cases, courts have ruled against the administration's grant funding cuts.

The new tool, which is being made available for public use, relies on data from USASpending.gov, an open data source for federal spending information, according to the group's methodology. The organisers said the tracker would be updated regularly as the administration takes new action and lawsuits move through the courts.

States United describes itself as a nonpartisan group focused on the rule of law and free, fair and secure elections. It was co-founded by Norm Eisen, a lawyer involved in prominent lawsuits against the Trump administration, including over the Kennedy Centre. Grant Witness is a group of scientists, researchers and attorneys documenting how funding is changing under Trump's administration.

Overall, the Lost Funds tracker said federal grant cuts and freezes under the Trump administration have reached up to USD 177 billion, affecting states across the country and programmes ranging from health and education to disaster relief and farming assistance.