As Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency – better known as DOGE – continue to have their sights set on Mississippi to trim what they believe to be “government waste,” nearly $400 million in federal funding has already or is in the process of being frozen across the state.
From $137 million intended for various projects and programs within the Mississippi Department of Education to the Mississippi State Department of Health on pace to lose out on over $220 million being used for virus research and community health center upgrades, the worry among agency heads can be felt.
Mississippi lawmakers will soon have a chance to ease some of the concerns.
Rewind to last week when the state House and Senate left the capitol in Jackson without finalizing a plan to fund the state government after June 30, 2025. While the budget collapse was mostly the result of an intraparty spat amongst GOP lawmakers over procedure rather than content, Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said this week that it “may be fortuitous” that lawmakers are having to wait to pass a budget with the DOGE cuts coming in hot and no end in sight.
“Sometimes, the Lord works in strange ways,” the Senate leader said. “So, we just need to follow His plan wherever that is, and it may give us an indication of how many hundreds of millions of dollars that we actually need to be cognizant of.
“While we’re doing [the budget], it’s very healthy for us to see what’s on the rug being pulled out from under us, and right now, it’s about $400 million. But I’m very doubtful that will be the end of it.”
Last week, SuperTalk Mississippi News reported on a letter sent by state superintendent of education Dr. Lance Evans to the Trump administration, urging the White House to reconsider a nationwide fund freeze on COVID-19 pandemic relief for K-12 schools. Evans noted that the money was still being used for “essential” costs such as closing pandemic-spurred learning gaps through instructional services, professional development for educators, mental health services for students, internet
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