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St. Paul grants director warns federal funding rules and pauses have created widespread uncertainty for city programs
Summary
Grants Director Lindsay Bacher told the St. Paul City Council organizational committee that recent executive orders, an OMB funding freeze and rapid federal policy changes created uncertainty for city grant programs and that the city is preparing contingency plans and pursuing nonfederal funding options.
Lindsay Bacher, the City of St. Paul’s grants director, told the City Council’s organizational committee that rapid federal policy shifts and an Office of Management and Budget funding freeze earlier this year created “a lot of unpredictability and uncertainty” for city grant programs.
Bacher described why the changes matter to St. Paul: the city has projects and services supported by a mix of active contracts, awards in pre‑award or negotiation phases, and pending proposals that could be delayed or altered by federal action.
Bacher said the OMB memo issued Jan. 27 that temporarily froze federal financial assistance produced immediate disruption nationwide. She described a sequence of judicial orders and agency reversals — a one‑week administrative stay, an OMB rescission that created conflicting signals, and a subsequent preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge — that together left grantees and program officers unsure which guidance to follow.
She told the committee that some agency instructions initially halted specific…
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