WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement after the Trump Administration ordered a pause in all federal grants and loans, a sweeping decision that could disrupt education and health care programs, housing assistance, disaster relief and a host of other initiatives that depend on billions of federal dollars: 

Let’s be clear. The Trump Administration’s action last night to suspend all federal grants and loans will have a devastating impact on the health and well-being of millions of children, seniors on fixed incomes, and the most vulnerable people in our country. It is a dangerous move towards authoritarianism and it is blatantly unconstitutional. Our Founding Fathers explicitly gave Congress the power of the purse. Under our system of checks and balances, no president has the right to choose which laws to follow and which laws to ignore.

Further, this illegal action raises more questions than it answers:

Will our nation’s community health centers receive the federal grants they need to continue to provide primary health care to more than 30 million Americans who desperately need it? Or is that on pause?

Will Head Start programs throughout the country receive the federal grants they need to provide high-quality early education to nearly 1 million children? Or will their parents find that they are no longer enrolled in Head Start?

Will pregnant mothers and their babies receive the vital nutrition assistance they need to stay healthy through the WIC program? Or will they be denied the food they need?

Will states be denied the federal grants Congress passed to keep millions of seniors on fixed incomes and families with children warm in the winter through the LIHEAP program? Or will these vulnerable Americans freeze because they are no longer able to pay their heating bills?

These are just a few of the questions that Trump’s dangerous and illegal action has raised.

Bottom line: This unconstitutional memo must be rescinded. The American people — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — must come together to defeat this move towards authoritarianism. If President Trump wants to change our nation’s laws he has the right to ask Congress to change them. He does not have the right to violate the United States Constitution. He is not a king.