MISSOULA — Federal funding for projects across the country was frozen when the Trump Administration first took office.
The Office of Management and Budget stated the funds were under review to determine whether they were in line with President Trump's agenda.
Some of those federal funds are now being lost completely, money for a safety project along Montana Highway 200 gone.
Watch to see local reaction to the loss of a $24 million grant for East Missoula:
“All of our years of planning, we're now gonna see dirt move. We're gonna see some construction. And now we're back to where we were almost a decade ago where nothing's happening. And we're almost back to square one,” said East Missoula Community Council member Lisa Thomas.
The recent passage of the "Big Beautiful Bill" resulted in East Missoula losing a $24 million grant intended to make safety improvements, specifically to the bridge connecting East Missoula to Missoula, along Montana Highway 200.
“We basically got caught up in the fervor of trying to eliminate projects that, on first blush, by some had the appearance of DEI,” Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier said.
The grant fell under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program, which Strohmaier and East Missoula resident Lisa Thomas said put the project in the cross-hairs of partisan politics.
“That word equity is in the name of the grant, puts it on the chopping block. And that's really all it was, even though it really is more of a safety grant,” Thomas said.
The grant being cut was not necessarily a surprise to the county, as once the Trump administration came into office, it immediately began reaching out to Montana’s congressional delegation.
“I reached out to Senator Tim Sheehy and expressed my concerns, and his response back to me was that he had reached out and had a conversation about this project with Secretary Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation," Strohmaier said. "I've not heard back from any of our other members of Congress as far as what attempts they made or did not make to try to rectify this situation."
While the grant may no longer be coming down the pipeline, that doesn’t mean that Missoula County or East Missoula residents have given up on trying to complete the project, as they say that, after almost 20 years of work, this is just another bump in the road.
“We're gonna go back to those building blocks we all agreed on and try to find other money. I mean, money's gonna make it happen. We just have to find it,” Thomas said.
“I am not deterred easily, and so one of the mottos of at least our commission is you cannot roll up your sleeves while you're wringing your hands, and so in the case at hand here, there is no time to sit around lamenting the fact that this funding has gone away," Strohmaier said. "The U.S. Congress and the president took action, and so we're going to look for ways in which we can work with our partners here locally and regionally and at the state level to try to get this work done."
Representative Ryan Zinke’s office said in a statement to MTN that “At the end of the day, a road or a bridge isn’t woke and shame on the Biden Administration for making it so that no funding moved without ideological buzzwords completely unrelated to the actual goals of the project.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Senator Steve Daines stated, “Senator Daines is in close contact with local leaders and with relevant federal agencies on the path forward for these projects.”
A spokesperson for Sen. Sheehy stated, “As the administration works to rein in spending and deliver government services more efficiently, Senator Sheehy will work to ensure cost-saving measures are targeted responsibly and the critical resources Montanans rely on are protected.”
Strohmaier and Thomas told MTN that while they will continue to search for additional sources of funding, it may not be an easy battle.
But they hope that BNSF, the owner of the bridge at the heart of the safety concerns, may be able to help fund some of the project.
