Q&A
Impact of White House budget office pause on federal grants and older adult programs
0:32:24
·
4 min
Council Member Hudson inquires about the potential impact of the White House budget office's pause on federal grants, particularly on older adult nutrition programs and NYCHA operations. Officials discuss the implications and current understanding of the situation.
- Potential impact on Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs, including Meals on Wheels
- NYC directly funds most of its programs, with about 25% coming from other sources
- NYCHA is still assessing the impact on its grant programs
- No specific provider feedback yet on potential furloughs or layoffs
- Existing working groups within NYC government are addressing potential federal impacts
Crystal Hudson
0:32:24
Thank you.
0:32:26
Before we jump into our questions, I do just want to ask a few questions from council member Schulman, who is in another hearing at the moment and, is extremely timely.
0:32:40
So as you are likely aware, the White House budget office has ordered a pause on all federal grants and loans effective 5 PM today.
0:32:48
This pause could impact 1,000,000,000,000 of dollars already congressionally approved for disbursement.
0:32:53
The primary source of federal funding for older adult nutrition programs like Meals on Wheels is the Older Americans Act Nutrition Programs, which is a grant.
0:33:02
If the White House memo applies to the Older Americans Act Nutrition Program, it could jeopardize service to millions of vulnerable older adults who have no other means of purchasing for preparing meals.
0:33:13
What is the plan to ensure that home delivered meals continue for the city's older adults given the president's order to halt all federal grant dollars, which most likely includes home delivered meals.
0:33:24
And I know this is all, you know, breaking news happening in real time.
Ryan Murray
0:33:29
Yeah.
0:33:31
Here's here's the short answer, and I appreciate the acknowledgment that this is every single day breaking news and flashes and updates and alerts and whiplash for everyone.
Ukah Busgith
0:33:44
Yeah.
Ryan Murray
0:33:46
Much of the, yes, the grants, that the council member Schulman, very well familiar with, do support New York City.
0:33:55
Much of our dollars are CTL dollars, in terms of programs to the city.
0:34:01
So there are working groups that have been looking at this for quite a while.
0:34:06
We must ensure that meals continue to be delivered, and there are other budget mechanics that we're gonna have to get through.
0:34:13
So I I know I'm not being extremely specific here, and I can't be in this moment.
Charles Madray
0:34:20
Yep.
Ryan Murray
0:34:20
But we are aware of the impacts that could happen with various federal funding.
0:34:26
The truth is that across the board, New York City directly funds most of its programs.
0:34:31
And so the the the term I've heard or the the ratio, and this is just we'll get to budget season soon, but it's roughly 25¢ on the dollar, right, is usually what we're talking about, overall, for a number of other than New York City funded.
0:34:48
But we fund most of our programs and we, you know, we're gonna have to figure this out.
0:34:53
But I appreciate that this is breaking, and there are other impacts in terms of benefits and services across the board.
0:35:00
So Right.
0:35:00
We're gonna just have more conversations.
Ukah Busgith
0:35:02
We'll we'll
Crystal Hudson
0:35:03
get to that, I'm sure, in in another hearing.
0:35:04
But I do just wanna ask NYCHA because, you know or specifically, do federal grants impact OAC operations at NYCHA facilities?
0:35:14
What about other NYCHA operations?
0:35:16
And if so, how can we make sure the NYCHA older adult centers do not lose their ability to exist if federal grant money is removed?
0:35:23
I know, obviously, the the financial situation is different for city agencies versus one like NYCHA.
Ukah Busgith
0:35:31
I I'm not aware of, funding affecting older adult centers at this time, but there are other, grant programs that are impacted at NYCHA.
0:35:40
And, you know, this is fresh news and we try trying to grapple with this and put things in place, but we it's still very new for us to come and further.
Crystal Hudson
0:35:50
Okay.
0:35:50
And for NYC aging, have you heard from providers about how this freeze might impact their operations?
0:35:55
Have you been told about potential furloughs or layoffs at all?
Ryan Murray
0:36:00
As of 9:30 last night, we haven't received specifics, from providers about other federal other programs that they run, where there's federal dollars that principally support them.
0:36:13
We were I was just with 400, providers at a LiveOn conference this morning, and you can imagine the mood, but we're also pretty riled up.
0:36:24
So, no, providers haven't reached out yet to talk about impacts to programs that they might be directly funded from the feds on.
0:36:34
I could imagine that they exist.
0:36:36
Folks understand that, again, we principally fund the programs, that are on the ground here, and the the concern is more about, immigration and other things.
Crystal Hudson
0:36:47
And just one suggestion also from council member Schulman is, to have maybe a a meeting for the cabinet on older adults to start discussing, if they haven't already, some of these cuts from the federal side.
Ryan Murray
0:36:57
Yeah.
0:36:58
And we there there have been working groups since the, the election, within the New York City government, where folks there are work federal working groups that our alleged team is involved in, looking at what those impacts are.
0:37:13
So happy to bring this up to the cabinet overall, but those work groups do exist.