Leaders bring federal funding concerns to Larsen at Everett roundtable

EVERETT — Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, heard concerns from community leaders Thursday about the recent White House attempt to pause many federal grants and loans.

Leaders from a variety of groups gathered at Everett Station to share the programs they’re worried may be in jeopardy under the Trump administration.

After the memo leaked Monday night, officials throughout the county scrambled to figure out what it could mean for the services they provide.

On Wednesday, the White House rescinded the funding pause memo after a federal judge temporarily blocked it Tuesday evening.

“America won round one, but we have multiple rounds to go,” Larsen said. “It’s only day 10 of this administration, so it’s an all-hands-on-deck effort.”

Still, the administration has not rescinded multiple executive orders from last week to pause funding for certain programs, including ones that are DEI-related or funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.

These orders paused funding for multiple job-creating infrastructure projects in Snohomish County, Larsen said, including light rail expansion and road improvements.

The Snohomish County Transportation Coalition is fully funded with federal money, said director Brock Howell. The organization works to ensure access for transit-insecure populations, such as people with disabilities, seniors, people who live in rural areas and tribes.

Washington’s transportation sector is already struggling to find new forms of funding, said Billy Wallace, who serves on the transportation subcommittee for Gov. Bob Ferguson’s transition team. The state has seen decreases in gas tax revenue, partially due to electric vehicles and more people staying at home for everyday activities, such as work and shopping, he added.

The pause could also affect construction job opportunities, said Heather Kurtenbach, executive secretary of the Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council.

“We’re concerned about the impacts to our apprenticeship programs and folks not being able to join our apprenticeship programs because we don’t have a job for them,” she said. “And the impact to our underrepresented communities, which we try so hard to recruit and bring into our programs — formerly incarcerated people, justice-involved people — all of the people that we are trying to bring into the trades and help them with a better life.”

Community Transit estimates a $180 million to $200 million impact, CEO Ric Ilgenfritz said.

“There’s a multiplier effect,” Ilgenfritz said. “These services are all complimenting each other.”

Federal grants funded 70% of Everett’s bus costs over the past nine years, said Mike Schmieder, director of Everett Transit. Half of capital project funding is federal as well, he said.

“The net effect of these orders is to not connect people to life if they’re implemented; it disconnects them,” Schmieder said. “It disconnects people from opportunity. It disconnects them from a better quality of life.”

On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee wrote a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The letter urged the department of transportation to be more transparent about its planned cuts to infrastructure spending.

“These actions are sowing chaos in an industry that counts on long-term certainty and will raise project costs,” the letter read.

Representatives from Volunteers of America Western Washington raised concerns about its behavioral health services, particularly the 988 suicide prevention hotline. The organization hopes to expand services for Native American and LBGTQ+ populations, which they fear the current administration could reject under its DEI order, said Rena Fitzgerald, executive director of behavioral health. Washington received nearly 10,000 calls to the 988 hotline in December alone.

“If Tuesday’s OMB memo would have gone into effect as described, people would commit suicide at a greater level. People would starve in their homes. People would lose their homes because of the cuts in the funding as outlined in the memo,” said Brian Smith, CEO of Volunteers of America Western Washington.

For the sheriff’s office, a large concern is its partnerships with other agencies, Snohomish County Sheriff Susanna Johnson said. The office frequently partners with federal agencies for high-level drug and violent offender investigations.

Confusion remains about how the administration will implement its executive order on DEI programs. Larsen said he spoke with U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday, who did not provide him with further clarity.

“Confusion and chaos, in fact, is the point,” Larsen said. “The point is to wage a direct assault on services that you provide to everyday Americans, everyday Washingtonians, everyday people in the second district, and to take those dollars and to reward the wealthy few, not working people.”

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.