EAST PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria non-profit was to receive some big news regarding funding on Tuesday from Congressman Eric Sorensen (D-Moline).
But the announcement never came to be, after President Donald Trump announced a freeze in federal grants, aid, and loans, as part of a larger goal to align spending with the priorities of the Trump administration.
Later in the afternoon on Tuesday, a Washington D.C. judge issued an injunction to halt the freeze, until a February 3rd hearing.
One of the affected grants was for Heartland Health Services. A Sorensen spokesperson says it was for $576,000 to help expand mental health and addiction services, which was approved by Congress last September.
An event at Heartland to announce the grant was canceled in the wake of the federal funding freeze, which Sorensen slammed later in the day in East Peoria at the Illinois Farmers Union Annual Meeting.
“That’s what Donald Trump’s America is about today, is we’re not going to help out anymore. That’s wrong,” Sorensen said. “As a member of Congress, I will use my voice, I will stand up, and I will say I am going to do more.”
Sorensen encouraged people in the district to speak up as well, saying he has heard many “heartbreaking phone calls” from neighbors all over. He says his biggest concerns are parents who are uncertain about receiving the assistance that they need.
“You have moms and dads working one job or two jobs, and they’re worried that the Headstart program is going to be canceled, and I, as a Congressman, cannot give them a 100% certainty that it won’t,” Sorensen said.
Sorensen says he’s also uncertain about funding for veteran services, community health care systems, and non-profits. He says the impact of the funding freeze is hitting people on both sides of the political aisle.
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