Beau of The Fifth Column
Let's talk about Trump giving up on his education funding freeze....
28 Aug 2025
Chapter 1: What led to Trump's education funding freeze?
Well, howdy there, internet people, it's Belle again. So today, we're going to talk about Trump giving up on his education funding freeze.
For some still kind of unknown reason, the Trump administration withheld billions in congressionally approved funds for schools. The money was for everything, from training teachers to summer programs to programs for English learners. It was just frozen by the administration, even though in many cases it had already been committed.
The $6.8 billion freeze occurred just weeks before school started, leaving communities all over the country scrambling for funding.
Chapter 2: How did states respond to the funding freeze?
Just one of the after-school programs affected is used by about 1.4 million children. Almost half the country sued, literally almost half the states, to include some of the most populous states sued.
The suit was based around the idea that Trump broke with the Constitution because Congress controls the purse strings and that the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 prohibits the president from withholding congressionally approved funding. Trump engaged in an abrupt about-face and has restored that funding after coming to an agreement with the states in question.
Chapter 3: Why did Trump reverse his decision on education funding?
California's Attorney General said, quote, The Trump administration upended school programs across the country when it recklessly withheld vital education funding just weeks before the school year was set to begin. Fortunately, after we filed our lawsuit, the Trump administration backed down and released the funding it had previously withheld.
Now, the obvious question is, why did Trump reverse course? The simple answer is normally the right one. It was incredibly unlikely that he would win. Congress controls the money. It's important to remember that even though Congress has handed more and more power to the executive branch, the US Constitution is simple and clear.
Chapter 4: What are the implications of Trump's funding decision on schools?
The president isn't really the boss. Congress is. The president is supposed to simply do what Congress tells him to. So if Congress says, give this money to states for education, the president has to do that. There's widespread speculation that Trump doesn't want to go to court over withholding the funds because he's certain he'll lose.
And if he does lose, then he loses a pretty big chunk of the leverage he's been using to try to get states or other organizations to fall in line. If he doesn't go to court, he can maintain that leverage. The other theory is that Trump believed his own rhetoric.
He truly believed the red states were independent and funding the schools in blue states, when the reality is that this funding freeze was going to hurt red rural districts the most. His abrupt change of heart occurred because he realized that his policies are hurting Americans so much.
Chapter 5: How does this episode reflect Trump's relationship with Congress?
The Republican Party is having to engage in a nationwide redistricting push to try to stem the projected loss of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. And this was something he could fix quickly and remove one more friction point with voters. Whatever the reason, this chapter in Trump disobeys Congress appears to be coming to a close. Anyway, it's just a thought. Y'all have a good day.