Gov. Bob Ferguson joined 22 other Democratic governors this week in a stern warning to federal officials: A proposed overhaul of federal grant funding rules could defund maternal health programs.
Washington and the other states, all part of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, submitted a joint comment Monday opposing the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) plan to change how federal grants get awarded, overseen and canceled. Ferguson has repeatedly stepped in to protect reproductive health funding in Washington, including covering an $11 million gap after Congress cut Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood.
A stern warning
The proposed rule would give political appointees a say in which grants get funded and allow federal agencies to cancel awards at any time, without warning. Governors say that could destabilize programs like CDC-backed maternal health collaboratives and rural maternal care grants. In Seattle and King County several agencies or programs could be threatened by a rule change:
- Family planning clinics across Seattle and King County — including Planned Parenthood’s Seattle-area locations and county health clinics. They receive funding through a federal program that’s already being challenged in a lawsuit over new political screening requirements.
- A statewide effort to make childbirth safer, called the Washington State Perinatal Collaborative, relies on federal money and has a nurse assigned to King County. That funding could be pulled with no warning under the new rule.
- Public Health – Seattle & King County runs federally funded programs that support new and expecting parents, including home-visiting nurses for new moms and pregnancy support services. The county has fought off a federal funding cut to a similar program before, so this isn’t a new fight, just a possible new front.
The comment period on the proposed rule change closed Monday after drawing more than 278,000 public responses. OMB says it plans to finalize the rule by Oct. 1.
State early childhood leaders also oppose OMB rule change
Washington’s statewide Head Start network also spoke out against a federal grant rule overhaul, warning it could destabilize preschool classrooms for low-income families. The Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP filed formal comments opposing the Office of Management and Budget proposal, arguing it would give federal officials broad new power to suspend or cancel Head Start grants using vague criteria, while also reviving diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility restrictions that a federal court has already struck down once for conflicting with the Head Start Act.
Joel Ryan, the association’s executive director, called the timing of the proposed funding rule change especially precarious because federal money covers about 80% of the average Head Start program’s budget in Washington.
“Even short-term funding disruptions can force classroom closures, interrupt services for children and families, and create instability for staff and local communities,” he wrote in an email to Seattle’s Child and in comments submitted to OMB last week. He also flagged new administrative burdens the rule could impose on programs already dealing with staffing shortages, as well as restrictions on the professional development and provider collaboration that many local programs depend on. Ryan’s letter to OMB comes amid other signs of strain in the state’s Head Start system, including slower federal grant processing, which may force the closure of some programs as soon as the 2026-27 school year.
OMB says it plans to finalize the rule by Oct. 1. Read more on the governors’ opposition from Stateline.
