President Donald Trump aims to prevent the government from wasting taxpayer funds promoting leftist causes often described as “woke,” such as Marxist equity, gender ideology, and climate alarmism.
The Trump White House issued a memo ordering a pause in all federal grants and loans until the administration can align funds accordingly, but it rescinded the memo shortly afterward, even as it faced a legal challenge.
The White House remains committed to the overall plan, however, and a recent poll suggests the American people are on board.
The polling firm RMG Research, which conducted the poll on behalf of the Napolitan Institute, asked respondents whether they agree or disagree with the statement: “Career and political appointees in the executive branch have a duty to align federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through presidential priorities.”
Most Americans (64%) said they strongly (32%) or somewhat (32%) agree with that statement, while only 33% said they strongly (11%) or somewhat (12%) disagree with it. The remainder, 13%, said they were unsure.
The firm also asked Americans whether they favor “a pause in the issuance of all federal grants and loan programs” in order to determine “the best uses of the funding for those programs consistent with the law and the president’s priorities.”
Most Americans (52%) said they strongly (26%) or somewhat (26%) favor a pause, while 42% said they strongly (25%) or somewhat (17%) oppose it.
Most Americans (65%) said illegal aliens should not be allowed to receive Medicaid. When asked if they would support a federal law to block states from offering Medicaid to illegal aliens, most Americans (66%) said they would strongly (43%) or somewhat (23%) support such a law, while only 27% said they would strongly (16%) or somewhat (11%) oppose such a law.
Most Americans also said they support Trump’s executive orders. Fifty-two percent said their opinion of the orders was very favorable (28%) or somewhat favorable (24%), while 42% said their opinion was very unfavorable (28%) or somewhat unfavorable (14%).
RMG Research surveyed 1,000 registered voters online on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29. Its margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.
While the idea of a president unilaterally refusing to spend funds allocated by Congress is controversial, the president arguably has broad authority to pause the disbursement of funds in order to ensure they are spent well.
A nonprofit organization called the National Council of Nonprofits filed the lawsuit to oppose the freeze on federal funding. The council did not reveal which of its 30,000 members receive federal funding and which groups it was representing in the lawsuit. However, the group chose the left-leaning law firm Democracy Forward to represent it, and it teamed up with a nonprofit that formed to support the reforms that became the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and with an LGBTQ+ activist group.
As my new book, “The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government,” reveals, many of the woke nonprofits that staffed and advised the Biden administration also received federal grants. It remains unclear how many of those organizations are members of the National Council of Nonprofits.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
