Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (May 6, 2025)— Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lucy McBath, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, led Judiciary Democrats in demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) immediately reinstate hundreds of critical crime prevention and public safety grants that were abruptly terminated by the Trump Administration last month. 

Despite the President’s promise to fund the police, support victims of violent crime, promote public safety, and combat drug overdoses and addiction, Trump’s own DOJ notified hundreds of grant recipients working on precisely these issues that their work no longer effectuated the Department’s “program goals or agency priorities” and their funding had been terminated. 

The more than $800 million in grant funding cut by the Trump Administration included funding for the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program; the National Policing Institute; rural and small police departments’ efforts to reduce and prevent violent crime; the Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement Officers and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) Initiative, which supports police officer safety and wellness efforts; the Court-Appointed Special Advocates and Guardians Ad Litem program, which provides support in legal proceedings to children in foster care who are victims of child abuse or neglect; programs that help people with disabilities navigate the criminal justice system, including one that provided American Sign Language interpretation services to domestic violence victims with disabilities; programs that support victims of crime and sexual assault; the National Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center; and more. 

“Despite decades of broad bipartisan backing for these programs and President Trump’s promises to promote public safety, your staff abruptly and opaquely informed more than 300 grant awardees recently that their OJP grants were terminated because the awards ‘no longer effectuate[] the program goals or agency priorities.’ This is baffling. These grants bolster local police in solving violent crimes. They help the survivors of brutal sexual abuse and sexual assault navigate the legal system and connect them to the resources they need, from mental health services to housing support. They provide addiction treatment and overdose assistance. They actually save American lives. We urge you to immediately reverse these terminations of essential programs,” wrote the Members.

The Department’s notifications to grantees not only fail to explain why the canceled grants no longer serve the DOJ’s priorities, but also do not describe how these termination decisions were made. Recent reporting suggests that a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer developed the list of grants to cut without consulting the experienced and knowledgeable experts in DOJ’s grantmaking arm. 

During the Judiciary Committee markup of Republicans’ funding bill on April 30, Republicans rejected a commonsense amendment to reinstate the terminated DOJ grants. Not a single Republican spoke against the amendment, but they all voted against it.

Democratic Members demanded Attorney General Bondi reinstate the terminated grants and respond to questions and requests for information to help the Committee understand why this critical funding was terminated.

Click here to read the letter.