AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Trump administration is considering a controversial rule change. It would give political appointees the final say over who gets federal grant money to fund projects in scientific research, public health and housing. Democrats have been pushing back, like Senator Adam Schiff of California.
ADAM SCHIFF: This will be the death knell of good science if the administration is able to put a rule like this into effect. That is going to kill our productivity, have hugely adverse impacts on our economy.
CHANG: NPR's Katia Riddle has been looking into what some of these adverse impacts could look like.
KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: The job of county executive is not an easy one. That's the position that Mark Poloncarz holds in Erie County, New York.
MARK POLONCARZ: During my tenure, at least in county government, we've had a plane crash. We've had COVID, the mass shooting, numerous snowstorms. I've dealt with a lot.
RIDDLE: He's been in this role since 2012. Now Poloncarz is dealing with a potential change to the way federal grants are administered. He says if it happens, this crisis may not look like the other disasters he's dealt with.
POLONCARZ: But it is something that will make our lives a heck of a lot miserable.
RIDDLE: The Office of Management and Budget, working under the Trump White House, proposed the rule. If it goes into effect, political appointees would gain more control over many federal grants for scientific research but also just for local government programs. Political appointees could, in theory, stop and start programs already in process or withhold money for programs that don't align with their political agenda. For Poloncarz, that means nearly half the county budget could be in flux or suspended at any time.
POLONCARZ: We have more than a billion federal dollars that rolls into our community.
RIDDLE: Those dollars flow to a wide range of programs - workforce development, mental health grants, opioid addiction treatment and counseling, sewer infrastructure. Under this new rule, Poloncarz fears any of these programs could disappear at the whims of a political appointee. This would be a change from the way government has worked in the past.
POLONCARZ: It's not so much a partnership anymore. It's becoming sort of big brother, where big brother is telling little brother, here's what you're going to do. And that's never been the relationship that we've had with the federal government.
RIDDLE: There are more than 3,000 counties that receive billions of dollars in federal grants every year. Geeta Wadhwani represents the Wisconsin Public Health Association, another kind of recipient of federal funding. She says the dozens of local health departments in Wisconsin rely on this money for things like disease prevention.
GEETA WADHWANI: They're paying attention to how many cases of flu, how many cases of pneumonia are occurring in the community. And then what do we need to communicate with our hospitals so they are prepared?
RIDDLE: Wadhwani fears if this money is pulled out from local public health departments, they will lose these frontline public health workers.
WADHWANI: You need staff to do this. You need nurses who are on the phone talking to health systems, talking to clients in the community. And if these cuts come, you have fewer staff to do the work.
RIDDLE: The Office of Management and Budget sent an email statement that reads, quote, "this rule is fundamentally about accountability to the American people and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. Officials who are accountable to the president and, ultimately, the American people will give final approval before grants go out the door," unquote. Local officials like Wadhwani fear that destabilizing this money will have far-reaching consequences.
WADHWANI: If the grant funding is stopped today or tomorrow, a staff person's salary is no longer paid. They lose their job.
RIDDLE: Wadhwani fears losing jobs and other resources will ultimately mean losing trust, not only in public health but in the federal government altogether.
Katia Riddle, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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