Environmental Justice Groups and Allies Will Defend the Law and Our Rights
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2025
Contact: Ashley Sullivan, ashley.sullivan@weact.org
WASHINGTON – Following continuous assaults on our Constitution and people across the country by the Trump administration over the past week, Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memo directing an illegal pause on thousands of federal grants and loans effective 5:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, January 28th, 2025. In response, WE ACT for Environmental Justice and allies across government, non-profit, and other groups have underscored that the executive branch does not have the authority to – and should never – control federal funds unilaterally. This separation of powers, entrusting spending to Congress, is a foundational element of our Constitution intended to prevent overreach such as this.
Congress has already approved these vital investments covering a massive array of public life from health care to education programs, and they are not optional; they are the law. This blatantly malicious and illegitimate effort will in turn negatively impact millions upon millions of people. Removing these funds will have drastic impacts to programs covering clean water protection and pollution prevention, low-income food assistance, thousands of renewable energy programs and jobs, research on life-saving medications, disaster relief including for recent climate crisis driven wildfires, heating coverage for the homes of families during one of the coldest winters on record, while also removing Tribal funds and land protections, and more. Not only is this illegal, it is a clear effort by the administration to implement unpopular and dangerous ideological mandates, using prejudice to target vulnerable people and our core rights and values. The latest in the administration’s war on equity, this move to defund environmental justice programs and fire environmental justice staff (e.g., firing Fellows in Office of Energy Justice & Equity at DOE, reassigning experienced attorneys in Office of Environmental Justice at DOJ) as part of their “anti-DEI” directives is not only a violation of our rights, but also goes against public attitudes – including 72% of Trump voters who support increased funding for environmental justice programs. In fact, this illegal process of withholding funding “pending review,” names equity and environmental justice specifically in an attempt to undermine the core principles of civil rights; freedom from discrimination, human dignity, and equality. Congress and the judicial system must hold the administration accountable for breaking the law.
Leslie Fields, Chief Federal Officer at WE ACT for Environmental Justice, shares:
“The role of our government is to provide a reflection of the needs and rights of the people. The Trump administration’s executive actions, however, are outrageously unconstitutional and betray millions of people across the country. This attempt to force total control over all aspects of the federal government from organization of agency offices and directives, staffing, and now funding is an unveiled effort to realize an agenda that aims to undo decades of work that has enshrined civil rights and environmental justice, and to remove protections for people of color and low-income as well as other vulnerable groups. They take aim at our communities, while likewise injuring millions of people who rely on federal funds for healthcare, education, environmental protection, and thousands of essential programs. After decades of systemic underfunding and prejudicial neglect, our communities and others were finally being provided a long-overdue fair shot to find justice. The enormity of the ramifications of these actions are difficult to quantify, but our response is clear: this violates the law and the Constitution, and we will not surrender our rights or our mission to protect environmental justice communities.”
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WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan-based, membership-driven organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low-income residents are meaningfully included in the development of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT has offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Visit us at weact.org and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter/X, and Instagram.