A running list of how Trump administration’s budget cuts are affecting Connecticut

CT Post – Wednesday, April 2, 2025
By Alex Putterman

In the opening months of his administration, President Donald Trump has sought to reshape the federal government according to his priorities, slashing staff and withholding grants previously approved by Congress.

Trump and his allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, have also floated additional cuts, including to major programs such as Medicaid and Social Security, often in the name of rooting out supposed waste and fraud.

Here is a list, updated as of April 1, of some of Trump’s cuts implemented so far and how they affect Connecticut.

Public health

Last week, Connecticut officials announced the Trump administration had canceled more than $150 million in public health grants to the state, including for disease outbreak surveillance, testing for viruses, newborn screenings, childhood immunizations and more.

The cuts forced dozens of projects to halt immediately and led Connecticut’s Department of Public Health to cancel contracts with 48 local health departments, DPH commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said, calling it “a dark day for public health.”

Connecticut and other states are suing the Trump administration in an effort to block the cuts.

Previously, the Trump administration froze a $22 million federal grant that helps fund the Connecticut Tumor Registry, which examines cancer patterns in the state.

Education

Trump, who hopes to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, has begun pulling back money promised for schools nationwide.

In recent days, his administration informed states that unspent pandemic-relief funds would expire immediately, a year earlier than planned, effectively cutting funds many districts had budgeted around and continued to rely on.

In Connecticut, the change is expected to cost nearly two dozen school districts a total of $6 million, much of which was targeted for the state’s poorest districts.

Federal employees

Trump has sought to dramatically reduce the federal workforce, firing and laying off tens of thousands of employees across a range of agencies.

Though it’s unclear how many Connecticut workers have lost their jobs, the state was home to more than 10,000 federal employees as of late 2023, and at least some of them have been affected by the cuts.

In addition to layoffs, Trump created a buyout program through which federal employees can leave their jobs and still be paid through September. One Connecticut resident who formerly worked for the federal Department of Energy told CT Insider he accepted the offer in part out of fear Trump would bar remote work.

Food for schools, pantries

The Trump administration has canceled nearly $1 billion in funding for two food programs: one that helps schools purchase fresh produce and another that helps food banks provide meals in their communities.

In Connecticut, the cuts will mean about $5.6 million in reduced money for schools and $3.7 in lost funds for pantries, according to state officials.

Jason Jakubowski, president of Connecticut Foodshare, said the organization had been counting on those funds, which he said paid for more than one million meals over the past two years.

Contracts for CT companies

According to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the agency has canceled 37 contracts with Connecticut-based vendors valued at about $181 million, with savings for the federal government amounting to $98 million.

One information technology company owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation lost three contacts, all tied to foreign aid, valued at about $122 million. Gartner, a Stamford-based advisory firm, lost 21 contracts across an array of federal agencies, totaling $27.4 million.

Leases

Meanwhile, DOGE says it has canceled about $1 million worth of real estate leases in Connecticut.

These leases paid for six buildings across the state, including a space in New London occupied by the Office of Administrative Law Judges, an Environmental Protection Agency office in Stamford, an Animal and Plant Inspection Service location in Wallingford and more.

DOGE has also explored the possibility of selling at least two buildings in Connecticut, including a federal office building in Hartford.

Electric vehicle chargers

One of the first initiatives Trump targeted was the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, created by President Joe Biden to create more EV chargers nationwide.

The program had been slated to send send Connecticut $52 million over five years but is currently on hold amid a Trump administration review.

As with many of Trump’s other unilateral cuts, the pause on electric vehicle funds has drawn criticism from advocates and officials who say the Trump administration is attempting to illegally withhold money allocated by Congress.

Solar panels

Trump has also paused funding for Solar for All, another program created under Biden, which seeks to distribute solar energy to low-income and disadvantaged households.

Before the funds were frozen, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection had been set to receive $62 million, to be distributed to customers beginning this year.

Refugee services

Almost immediately upon taking office, Trump not only suspended all refugee resettlement in the U.S. but also cut off funding for existing resettlement programs, including in Connecticut.

In response to these cuts, the New Haven-based Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services has laid off large chunks of its staff and closed one of its offices.

“It’s a very, very uncertain and painful time for all of us,” IRIS executive director Maggie Mitchell Salem said in February.

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