FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 5, 2026
Media Contacts:
Lawyers for Good Government — jordan@unbendablemedia.com
Environmental Protection Network — epn-press@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
Trump Administration Proposes Weaponizing More Than $1 Trillion in Federal Funding and Dramatically Increase Red Tape
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a sweeping, partisan, and ideologically driven rewrite of Federal grants guidance that would, if finalized, deeply politicize the distribution of federal funds in America.
New Rule Would Be a Power Grab by the President Over More Than $1 Trillion in Federal Grants, impacting health, education, environment, housing, scientific research, and much more – Fact Sheet here
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) and the Environmental Protection Network (EPN) today released a joint fact sheet explaining how a sweeping new federal grants proposal from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would give the president the power to rip the federal safety net out from under any community he wants to punish politically. This proposal should cause serious concern in every state, Tribe, local government, university, hospital, nonprofit, and business that implements these critical programs.
On May 29, 2026, OMB proposed a far-reaching rewrite of the government-wide grants guidance known as 2 CFR 200 that sets guidance for all federal financial assistance other than direct contracts and tax credits. The proposal’s reach extends across the whole of the federal government, impacting over $1.3 trillion in annual funding from more than 40 federal agencies. If finalized, the rule would put senior political appointees in charge of approving and canceling individual grants, while stripping recipients of due process rights; attach ideological conditions to nearly every federal dollar, raising First Amendment and equal-protection concerns; impose costly new compliance mandates, including DHS E-Verify enrollment, Treasury “Do Not Pay” pre-payment checks, and a written justification for every payment; and weaken the GAO and Inspector General audit framework that has anchored federal grant accountability for decades.
“This is an executive power grab that would hand presidential political appointees unchecked control over more than a trillion dollars that Congress appropriated in the interests of all Americans,” said Jillian Blanchard, Senior Vice President for Climate Change and Environmental Justice at Lawyers for Good Government. “Conditioning funding for critical programs on ideology and viewpoint discrimination, while erasing basic due-process protections, violates freedoms of speech, equal protection, and eviscerates Congress’s power of the purse.”
“States, cities, tribes and nonprofits all rely on federal funds to keep our families safe, deliver clean drinking water, and protect our health. This regulation would add layers and layers of new red tape that make projects that reduce our exposure to toxics and other pollution slower and more expensive,” said Michelle Roos, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Network. “The Trump Administration spent last year recklessly terminating billions of dollars in grants that would have improved all of our lives , and now they want unchecked power to do the exact same to any federal grant in any federal agency.”
“Communities that desperately rely on this congressionally appropriated funding should never lose access to it because they fall outside an administration’s preferred political viewpoints,” said Khadijah M. Silver, Director of Gender Justice & Health Equity at Lawyers for Good Government. “By tying funding decisions to broad ideological directives, this proposal simply turns the federal grant process into a tool for political favoritism.”
The public has 45 days to respond. Comments are due July 13, 2026, and the Administration aims to make the rule effective October 1, 2026. L4GG and EPN are hosting a comment training on Tuesday, June 23, at 2:00 p.m. ET; stakeholders can register through either organization and submit comments at www.regulations.gov under docket OMB-2026-0034.
The full stakeholder fact sheet follows.
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About Lawyers for Good Government: Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG) is a nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of 125,000 lawyers, law students, and advocates in the fight for justice. We identify where lawyers can make the greatest impact and mobilize them to defend democracy and the rule of law, protect civil and human rights, and advance environmental justice through coordinated legal action and advocacy efforts that create meaningful change for all Americans. LawyersforGoodGovernment.org
About the Environmental Protection Network: The Environmental Protection Network is a nonpartisan organization comprising more than 750 former EPA scientists, toxicologists, chemists, biologists, engineers, and policy analysts — many of whom spent decades as career experts inside the agency. They assessed cancer and developmental risks, studied links between pollution and fertility and chronic disease, investigated contaminated communities, and brought enforcement actions to hold corporate polluters accountable. EPN was founded in 2017 to serve as an independent voice promoting science-based policies that protect Americans’ health.