JW’s COVID Community Corps Case Illustrates Need for Trump Plan to Cut Federal Waste

President Trump’s temporary funding freeze to reign in Biden’s spending binge has ignited outrage among the left and an ongoing Judicial Watch case that has already exposed $505 million dollars (and counting) in government waste helps illustrate why the new order is vital to protect American taxpayers. It involves awarding billions of dollars to a “grassroots network of community leaders people know and trust” to propagandize and politicize the controversial COVID vaccine by, among other things, increasing vaccine uptake in vulnerable and minority communities. It was part of a $3 billion program to support outreach efforts in states by using a specially created COVID-19 Community Corps operated by leftists. Judicial Watch requested records from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and was forced to sue in federal court because the government failed to provide the documents, which are still trickling in under the terms of the lawsuit.

It is likely that the scandal-plagued program, which was only exposed because Judicial Watch litigated to obtain records, would receive scrutiny under the new Trump rules aimed at cutting government waste. The policy has caused outrage among many Democrats as well as liberal groups that benefitted financially from Biden’s government cash giveaway. The brouhaha was triggered by a memorandum issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees the performance of federal agencies and administers the federal budget, to the heads of executive departments and agencies calling for a temporary pause of grants, loans and other financial assistance programs. “Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again,” the memo reads. It also says that the use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that fails to improve the lives of those they serve.

To implement the new policy each agency is asked to complete a comprehensive analysis of programs to identify those that may be implicated by any of Trump’s executive orders. “In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal,” the OMB memo states. “This temporary pause will provide the Administration time to review agency programs and determine the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the President’s priorities.” Federal agencies are also directed to pause all activities associated with open federal funding announcements officially known as Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

The funding pause is necessary because the administration must review federal programs to ensure that they are being executed in accordance with the law and the new president’s policies, a White House statement explains. One mainstream newspaper reported that the move to crack down on waste “caused mass chaos and confusion across Washington.” Another major paper referred to it as an “explosive Trump administrative order that froze trillions of dollars of federal grants and loans” and received “widespread condemnation and confusion.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified to a hostile mainstream media that specializes in trashing all things Trump that efforts to “end the egregious waste of federal funding” will continue.

Judicial Watch’s COVID-19 Community Corps case is one of many that can be used to demonstrate why the new Trump order is essential to evaluate future expenditures. The records we obtained reveal that one notable recipient of taxpayer dollars to promote vaccines under Biden’s multi-billion-dollar plan is the Washington D.C. Episcopal Diocese, whose leftist bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, politicized her recent presidential inauguration sermon at the National Cathedral by urging Trump to show mercy to illegal immigrants as well as LGBTQ+ individuals.

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