Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) held a virtual town hall on Feb. 10 to address concerns about how President Trump’s sweeping executive orders may affect New Jersey residents.
During the one-hour event, Kim called Trump’s executive order to halt funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “just the beginning” of the new administration’s attempts to dismantle key federal agencies and programs. USAID is the principal U.S. government agency that provides assistance and humanitarian aid to foreign countries.
Amid speculation that the White House plans to issue an executive order abolishing the Department of Education, Kim alleged that Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon told him she expects “major cuts” for departments outside of USAID. The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), of which Kim is a member, will vote on McMahon’s nomination this week.
Kim warned that even temporary freezes on funding to federal agencies and departments will be not only “chaotic” but also “damaging” for non-profit organizations that rely on federal funding to provide essential health and social services.
“If you want to try to address inefficiencies, we can do that as we go through a budget process every year in Congress,” said Kim. However, he emphasized that recent attempts by the Trump administration to “stop what is already in motion” through funding freezes have jeopardized essential jobs and services for Americans.
In an interview on Feb. 9 with NBC News, Kim said he’d be willing to work with Democrats to deny Republicans the votes they need to move forward with government funding in March.
“This is just a scary time,” said Kim in the town hall. “We’re trying to offset some of these challenges by continuing to invest at the state level, but we’re very much in a big fight to be able to take this on.”
Two guests were invited by Kim to speak at the virtual town hall on how the federal funding freeze will affect their New Jersey-centered non-profit work. The first was Richard Williams, Executive Director of St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation (SPCDC) and president of The Patterson Alliance.
The SPCDC is “a 35 year old nonprofit operating in Patterson, New Jersey,” Williams shared. “We focus on homelessness, housing assistance, food security, workforce development, and community outreach.”
Williams said that the federal funding freeze order will affect “close to 600 families per month who are receiving grocery packages that will provide a week’s worth of meals to every individual person in the household, over 2500 individual beneficiaries every single month.”
Williams continued by saying that this order will “also mean the cutting of housing support services to over 80 homeless men a year, who not only are being provided with a warm bed off the streets and three square meals a day, but also with large shower facilities as well as employment and housing assistance.”
Marily Gonzalez, President and CEO of Heightened Independence and Progress Center for Independent Living (HIPCIL), was the next guest Kim invited to speak.
Gonzalez said that the center serves Bergen and Hudson County, and that the funding for these centers comes from the federal government.
“Our funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Under their administration for community living programs here in New Jersey, we serve 21 counties,” Gonzalez stated. “We have 12 centers, and we are nonprofit centers. We all provide the same core services to individuals with disabilities. This last year for 2024 we provided over 102,000 consumer services across the state.”
Like SPCDC, HIPCIL serves many people in the New Jersey community. Gonzalez expressed concerns over being able to continue their work.
“We do so many things that are so important for the community in New Jersey,” Gonzalez said. “We would not be able to maintain our centers if the federal money came to a stop … the average Center for Independent Living may be able to maintain preparations for about 60 days before completely closing their doors, and that's something that we have to take very seriously.”
“[A federal funding freeze] would be catastrophic for us,” Gonzalez also stated. “This is a huge impact on New Jersey residents that rely on the valuable services that all the centers throughout the state provides.”
Over the past week, following Trump’s executive orders, many New Jersey residents — “literally hundreds of phone calls every day,” per Kim — have been contacting Kim’s office with their concerns. Kim and the panelists also addressed questions sent in from multiple New Jersey residents at the end of the meeting.
Kim ended the meeting by saying that he and his team will continue to hold these virtual town hall meetings.
“We’re going to continue to work hard. Things are changing every single day. Please reach out to my office if you have any additional questions or comments, and we’ll make sure that we try to get back as soon as possible.”
Vivien Wong is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince’ from Charlottesville, VA. She typically covers campus clubs and university finances.
Luke Grippo is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from South Jersey and usually covers administrative issues, including USG, the CPUC, and institutional legacy, but loves to write in any area.
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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