Democrats are concerned about the White House’s freeze of federal grants and loans. But Republicans are pushing back on their worries.
Vincent Candleroa, the Connecticut House Republican minority leader, said Democratic leaders are being unduly alarmist about the White House directive.
“They are trying to scare the public, and I would like to see how it plays out,” he said outside the House chamber at the State Capitol in Hartford on Tuesday.
“I’ve read some of that information. There is a lot of clarity that needs to be had. And I think everybody needs to take a deep breath, take their temperature and back off,” Candelora said.
“If we see cooperation, I think, from these agencies, I think the administration would be more apt not to have to do these things,” Candelora said, blaming federal agencies for not cooperating with President Donald Trump’s administration.
“But we are going to see a lot more of this jockeying until agencies start coming to terms with the fact that they have a new administration,” he said.
Democratic House Speaker Matt Ritter announced earlier in the day that the state would have to seek a court injunction to stop the White House order.
“Let’s just say that if we don’t get an injunction by 5 o’clock or sometime tomorrow, there are serious real problems,” Ritter said.
State officials had told him they could not access the Medicaid system, and the state’s federally funded health clinics would run out of money in less than 10 days.
