Threats of cuts to Delaware libraries, minority businesses prompt another AG lawsuit
Isabel Hughes- Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings is suing the Trump administration over an executive order cutting funding to federal agencies.
- The cuts will impact libraries, museums, minority-owned businesses, and labor dispute resolution.
- The Institute of Museum and Library Services has been effectively shut down, halting the distribution of almost $300 million.
- The Minority Business Development Agency has drastically reduced staff, impacting grants to small businesses.
In the wake of a March executive order issued by President Donald Trump that would "devastate" Delaware libraries and minority-owned businesses, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings has joined a handful of other states suing to stop the federal cuts, the state Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Trump's executive order, issued March 14, would dismantle seven federal agencies created by Congress. Three of the agencies provide "hundreds of millions of dollars" to libraries, museums, and minority-owned businesses and aid in labor disputes nationwide, the Delaware justice department said.
While the DOJ did not provide an exact number of how much money Delaware would lose, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride warned that the cuts would be extensive.
Last year alone, one of the agencies facing cuts − the Institute of Museum and Library Services − provided about $1.5 million to libraries and museums in the First State.
Of that, $1,389,442 went to the Delaware Division of Libraries and another $120,739 went to museums through “Inspire!” grants. Recipients included The Delaware Contemporary art museum in Wilmington, the Delaware Museum of Nature and Science in Wilmington and the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village in Dover.
Trump's executive order also targeted: the Minority Business Development Agency; the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness; the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; the United States Agency for Global Media; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution; and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
How will these cuts affect Delaware?
Already, Trump's executive order resulted in the Institute of Museum and Library Services placing its entire staff on administrative leave, effectively shutting down operations and halting the distribution of nearly $300 million in congressionally appropriated funds, said McBride, a Democrat.
The Delaware Department of Justice said Thursday that the Minority Business Development Agency, which "promotes the growth and inclusion of minority-owned businesses through federal financial assistance programs," had to chop its staff of 40 to just five individuals.
As a result, it's "effectively stopped issuing new grants, hurting vulnerable small businesses across the country," the DOJ release said.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, meanwhile, has slashed its staff of roughly 200 to less than 15. It's also terminated several "core" programs, according to the justice department.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 14.2 million, or about 9.9%, of U.S. workers were union members. This included both private and public-sector workers such as teachers, police officers, firefighters and others.
Cuts to the agency, which "promotes peaceful resolution of labor disputes," will make it harder for unionized worker to secure their rights.
Jennings, others also sue RFK Jr., HHS
This recent suit comes on the heels of an April 4 lawsuit filed by Jennings and the attorneys general of 22 other states, as well as Washington, D.C., for the Trump administration's cancellation of nearly $12 billion in public health grants to states.
Delaware would lose more than $38 million from the grant cancellations.
The Delaware justice department said the grant terminations came without "warning or legally valid explanation" and have "quickly caused chaos" for public health agencies.
The grants are used for public health initiatives, including infectious disease management, emergency preparedness in the case of epidemics and pandemics, providing mental health and addiction services, and updating public health infrastructure.
In announcing the cuts, the federal health department said the funds were largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and other responses to the pandemic − which department spokesman Andrew Nixon said is no longer an issue.
Jennings also targets Trump's 'sweeping' voter restrictions
On Thursday morning, hours before announcing the most recent lawsuit, Jennings also said she was joining another lawsuit against Trump's "Elections Executive Order," which seeks to overhaul how elections are conducted across the nation.
It includes establishing new voter identification requirements to prove U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Non-U.S. citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal elections, USA TODAY reported. But under the order, the national mail voter registration form will require that applicants provide either a U.S. passport, a REAL ID driver's license or a state-issued card compliant with REAL standards, or a "valid Federal or State government-issued photo identification."
The suit challenges these requirements, as well as a provision that threatens to withhold federal funding to states that the Trump Administration deems are noncompliant with the order.
Thirty-six states currently require voters to provide some form of identification at the polls to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislations, while 14 states, mostly controlled by Democrats, and the District of Columbia do not have such restrictions, according to USA TODAY.
Voting rights groups warn that voter identification requirements, long championed by Republicans, can make it harder for eligible seniors, minorities, low-income and students to vote.
Reporter Ben Mace and USA TODAY contributed to this report.