A trip home to celebrate Lunar New Year quickly turned into scrambling to address President Donald Trump‘s executive order to review federal spending.
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“This came out of nowhere,” said Rep. Derek Tran, D-Orange.
“Monday night, Tuesday, we were preparing for celebration, Lunar New Year,” said Tran. “That’s why I was back in the district, that was what was going to fill up my calendar.”
Instead, Tran, along with fellow freshman Rep. Dave Min, D-Irvine, joined local officials in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Irvine on Thursday, Jan. 30, to discuss the potential fallout from the Trump administration’s recent actions, including the freeze on federal grants and loans.
Although the Office of Management and Budget rescinded its memo pausing federal aid, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that Trump’s executive orders on federal funding “remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.” The administration has said all funding must comply with Trump’s executive orders, which target transgender rights, environmental issues and DEI initiatives.
Min, Tran and local officials and nonprofits in Orange County said they are still trying to make sense of the full impact and extent of a freeze.
“No one knows what’s happening,” said Tran. “There is no clear directive on what’s going on at the federal level.”
Should a federal freeze on loans and grants be implemented, Orange County is at risk of losing about $900 million in funding, including $520 million for programs that programs are linked to DEI, or in other words, have some sort of inclusionary or equity policy or initiative, according to Supervisor Katrina Foley. The county’s total budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year is $9.5 billion.
Foley said the county’s chief financial officer flagged several at-risk programs, including free school breakfasts, senior meal delivery, adoption services, elder abuse prevention, housing vouchers and rape kits.
“Some of this, technically, is just following the law,” Min said of these programs’ link to DEl initiatives. “There’s anti-discrimination law in housing, for example.”
Mary Anne Foo, founder and executive director of the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance in Garden Grove, said every federal award includes questions about diversity. The organization provides health and housing programs to low-income residents.
Without federal funding — including grants for mental health, substance use and housing — about 16,700 Orange County residents who rely on OCAPICA’s services will be affected, Foo said, including 12,000 who receive mental health prevention and early intervention services.
When Foo learned about the freeze early Tuesday, she worried she’d have to halt services and lay off staff. But she said the community was even more frightened.
“We started calling up our congressional members, national nonprofits, state nonprofits, to try to find out what this means,” said Foo. “And the community, they were like, ‘Is my health care impacted? Can I go to the doctor?’”
Foo said a chunk of the people OCAPICA helps are undocumented, which added to their concern. “Some were asking,” she said, “‘Can my kids go to school, or should I hold them back?’”
Some nonprofit leaders say their organizations’ entire identity could be threatened by the Trump administration’s policies.
“Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California was founded in 1983 specifically to address the needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in need of legal services. Our entire model … is providing free legal services and support specifically in eight Asian languages and dialects,” said Connie Chung Joe, chief executive officer of the organization, which serves 10,000 residents per year in Orange County.
“If an immigrant domestic violence survivor calls us and is only able to speak Korean and needs help with getting a restraining order, we can help that person do that in a way most other organizations cannot,” said Chung Joe.
“If that is what is being scrutinized under what is called DEI, that means our entire organization’s identity, our whole purpose, is at risk here.”
Foley, a Democrat, said the Orange County Transportation Agency could lose out on $517 million should there be a federal freeze on loans and grants, including $77 million for highway improvements from the 57 freeway in Anaheim to Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano and $100 million for coastal rail stabilization and sand replenishment.
“We have more than $500 million in pending federal grants from both formula and discretionary programs. It’s unclear how much of that would potentially be subject to a spending freeze,” OCTA spokesperson Eric Carpenter said.
And the county is already grappling with budget issues, including the aftermath of last year’s Airport fire, said Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, a Democrat. He said that because the county has to tighten its belt, it would be very difficult to afford to help those in need if a federal funding freeze takes effect.
When asked what’s next, given the uncertainty of the situation, Min said he believes the attorneys’ general lawsuit is a “clear cut, slam dunk” case. On Tuesday, Jan. 29, a coalition of 23 Democratic attorneys general, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued the Trump administration, seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the freeze.
“My strong belief is that the judiciary will rule this to be unconstitutional,’ said Min. “What I don’t know is whether the Trump administration will adhere to that court decision.”
