Kelly Ayotte’s ongoing inaction and refusal to stand up to Trump is costing Granite Staters tens of millions of dollars. Indiscriminate cuts to federal funding will end vital services that Granite Staters rely on, and businesses are losing critical funds that help keep their doors open. 

As reported by the Boston Globe, school districts are losing federal funding because of Kelly Ayotte’s refusal to sue the Trump administration. Districts are facing “really tough decisions” as “the pinch just keeps getting tighter and tighter.” NHPR reported that cuts to farming and rural energy grants will jeopardize the “longevity of farms or businesses” and without them, food systems will be hurt. And WMUR reported that funds for one of Manchester’s primary shelters are set to expire next month, leaving dozens with no place to go.

Read more below:

Boston Globe: In GOP-led states like New Hampshire, communities feel the fallout of staying silent on Trump’s funding cuts

• When schools across the country got word last month that the Trump administration was withholding billions of dollars in congressionally approved funds for public education, there was a familiar partisan split. 
• In New England, New Hampshire is the only state that has opted out of fighting for the funds in court, meaning that even if the other states’ lawsuit is successful, the Granite State’s schools would still lack millions in funding.
• For Manchester, with the largest public school district in New Hampshire, the indefinite funding pause is blowing a more than $3 million hole in the budget for next year. 
• That could jeopardize an enrichment and college-accessibility program for underserved students, support for the district’s sizable English learner population, professional development, and more, according to Superintendent Jennifer Chmiel. 
• “The pinch just keeps getting tighter and tighter,” Chmiel said. “So our board is going to have to look at it and decide, do we want to take on a lawsuit or preserve a student resource? These are really tough decisions, and it’s really hard to look at that map and see all the other states light up and we’re blank. All around us, they’re participating.”
• Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte’s administration has said she is seeking to work with the administration directly to restore programs and funding. So far, it hasn’t seemed to work. 
• In late March, the Trump administration pulled over $100 million in COVID-era public health funding back from New England states, including money for mental health and substance abuse programs. A coalition of 23 states, including Rhode Island, Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, sued and a judge ordered the funds restored to them. But that ruling didn’t apply to New Hampshire and the $80 million the Trump administration had clawed back from the state.
• Illness New Hampshire, said the chaos of the cuts and constant concern about what could be coming next from the federal government have made the work her group and others do to provide behavioral health support challenging.
• In April, the Trump administration abruptly terminated scores of AmeriCorps programs nationwide, halting the community service work they were doing and leaving the service members in the development program in the lurch. Every New England state besides New Hampshire successfully sued, and a judge in June ordered their programs and service members reinstated.

WMUR: Funding for Manchester homeless shelter set to expire next month

• Funding for a Manchester homeless shelter is set to expire next month, which could leave dozens of people without a place to stay.
• Officials said that without the funding, Manchester's Beech Street shelter won't have the means to stay open past Sept. 1, leaving about 40 people with no place to go.
• The Beech Street shelter is funded by state and federal dollars, and that money is set to expire on Aug. 31.

Seacoast Online: COAST Bus ending these Seacoast routes after federal funding cuts

• Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation, known as the COAST Bus, is gearing up to likely discontinue some of its routes due to federal funding reductions.
• This year, 53% of COAST's budget is being supplied by federal resources, and that number is expected to decrease, according to COAST's website.
• COAST Bus Executive Director Rad Nichols credited part of the dip in federal funding to the expiration of the COVID emergency relief grants COAST received. 
• Nichols said ridership has increased 10% year to date and increased 28% last year. “We want to be expanding, helping the region. A lot of companies are wondering how employees are going to [affordably] get to work.”

Boston Globe: Hunger-fighting N.H. nonprofit joins the legal fight over EPA grant funding cuts

• The largest organization helping people access food in southern New Hampshire has joined a chorus of nonprofits urging the courts to restore federal grant funding the Trump administration revoked earlier this year via the Environmental Protection Agency.
• “This recovered food would have doubled the number of well-balanced meals Gather makes and distributes to hungry residents in our region,” said Anne Hayes, the nonprofit’s executive director.
• “The reduction and cancellations of USDA programs means that Gather will have less food to distribute while trying to serve more people in need,” she said.

NHPR: New Hampshire navigates changes to USDA’s rural energy grant application

• Farmers and small businesses owners were expecting to start submitting their applications for a grant through the Rural Energy for America Program this July 1. But, one day before, the Department of Agriculture released a notice stating that the application window was canceled.
• “The main goal of REAP is to lower the energy use for the business whether that's through efficiency or new energy generation,” said Gabe Chelius of Clean Energy New Hampshire. 
• “Where I've really seen it be impactful is that it saves these folks a lot of money each year,” he said. “Farmers don't always have a lot of capital, so these grants are really important for them, for the longevity of their farm or for the longevity of a business.”
• “It's a shame that these past two periods haven't been open, but if you look at it from a historical context, moving on from the IRA now, it might not be surprising if we move it back to twice a year,” Chelius said.

NHPR: Farmers rally at NH State House to decry federal cuts, ask for more local support

• Speaking before a crowd outside the State House Monday evening, Julie Davenson listed the challenges facing local farmers these days: the elimination of farming grants; cuts to food banks, which are big buyers of locally-grown food; cuts to technical support programs, and more.
• “Food insecurity has been rising. Farm businesses are struggling. Rural communities are being hollowed out, and climate resilience is being undermined,” Davenson, a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association said.
• Federal policies, Davenson said, increasingly support large industrial farms instead of local growers. That, in turn, hurts food systems, she said, and could make organic and local produce less available.