Politics
Contributor: Trump is cutting the funding that ensures funds are well spent
Donald Trump’s first term as president was characterized by an unprecedented volume of false and misleading statements — exceeding 30,000, according to multiple news organizations. As he advances through the first 100 days of his second term, his administration appears to be intensifying this pattern, amplifying a misinformation apparatus to justify his actions and policy changes.
As he does so, he is also dismantling the government’s ability to evaluate its own policies, replacing credible evidence with propaganda. The second Trump administration is systematically eliminating funding and personnel for oversight and evaluating programs. This threatens our ability to make informed, evidence-based decisions about policies and programs, leaving the public vulnerable to unchecked misinformation and ineffective governance.
When the process or mechanism for systematically and objectively measuring what is working and what is not, what needs to be improved, and what we should replicate in other places and with other people is dismantled, the public will no longer have access to critical information and data.
The gathering and reporting of credible evidence to inform policy decisions was introduced as part of the Great Society legislation when programs under the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, sponsored by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, were required to be evaluated. Since then, evaluation has been key in shaping effective government programs. Its importance was reinforced in 2019 with the passage of the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, signed by President Trump. This act required each government agency to develop evaluation policies outlining their priorities and practices under the appointment of a chief evaluation officer.
During his first two months back in office, the Trump administration has executed an “evidence drain” by eliminating or drastically cutting back on important research and evaluation programs. The Institute of Education Sciences has been virtually eliminated; only three staff members remain at the National Center for Education Statistics; and just over 20 personnel are left to execute the vital functions of the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Before Trump’s cuts, these offices employed more than 180 people.
The administration’s cuts to research funding have received more attention, and indeed, research is essential to medical and technological advancement. But cuts to evaluation take a serious toll as well.
Evaluation studies inform us about our national performance. With accurate, carefully designed studies, we may thoughtfully modify programs and policies to improve their performance and wind down those that we learn are not working well. Prudently constructed studies that produce nuanced answers to these and other questions have been commissioned by our government for more than 60 years to address timely and relevant questions, such as those we should be studying right now: What happens when social services are cut? To whom and where are these cuts having the most significant impact? How does shifting federal student loan programs from the Department of Education to the Small Business Administration affect access to these programs?
The public needs to know and understand the implications of cutting evaluation budgets and federal evaluation offices. Without sound evidence to counter or support claims made by public officials, we, the public, risk having access only to false information, which is now regularly pushed on unchecked social media and news outlets. That is why it is so dangerous for the public and so opportunistic for an administration moving toward authoritarianism to cut these studies with a chainsaw.
Fringe individuals with questionable professional credibility have politicized research studies by rebutting well-established findings and spreading disinformation, as we have seen with vaccine effectiveness and safety. The Trump administration has just hired one of these people to study the already discredited link between vaccines and autism. Spending tax dollars on this kind of “research” is an unquestionable waste of resources and a direct effort to continue pushing misinformation to the public, making it more difficult to discern fact from fiction.
We should also be deeply concerned that the current administration will hire equally unqualified and questionably positioned individuals to evaluate the outcomes of its cavalier cuts to funding and personnel.
We must continue to conduct sound evaluation studies of our programs and policies and provide the public with credible information to inform our national, local and kitchen table discussions. Many states and philanthropic organizations support such efforts. They should increase their commitments to this vital work.
To ensure honest appraisals that counter misinformation, we must, as a public, question the quality and accuracy of evidence used to support value-based assessments of what policies and programs are being “well” implemented and doing “good” for the American people. This is central to the survival of our increasingly fragile democracy.
Christina Christie is the dean of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies.
Insights
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
Viewpoint
Perspectives
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
- The Trump administration’s cuts to federal evaluation programs, including the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics, threaten evidence-based policymaking by dismantling mechanisms that assess program effectiveness.
- Eliminating oversight capacities risks replacing credible data with misinformation, as seen in the administration’s push to study debunked claims like vaccines causing autism, which undermines public trust in scientific consensus.
- These cuts reverse decades of bipartisan support for evaluation, including the 2019 Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, and weaken the public’s ability to hold government accountable for policy outcomes.
Different views on the topic
- Reducing federal bureaucracy, including evaluation programs, aligns with broader efforts to streamline government operations and eliminate perceived wasteful spending, as outlined in executive orders targeting agencies like the Minority Business Development Agency[3].
- Critics argue that federal evaluations can perpetuate bureaucratic bloat and that reallocating funds to direct policy implementation prioritizes fiscal responsibility and economic growth, such as through deficit-reducing tax cuts[1][3].
- Some frame cuts to agencies like the NIH as necessary to curb “partisan missions” and redirect resources toward priorities like national security and immigration enforcement, reflecting a focus on smaller government[2][3].
Politics
Federal judge blocks Trump from cutting childcare funds to Democratic states over fraud concerns
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A federal judge Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from stopping subsidies on childcare programs in five states, including Minnesota, amid allegations of fraud.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, a Biden appointee, didn’t rule on the legality of the funding freeze, but said the states had met the legal threshold to maintain the “status quo” on funding for at least two weeks while arguments continue.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it would withhold funds for programs in five Democratic states over fraud concerns.
The programs include the Child Care and Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Social Services Block Grant, all of which help needy families.
USDA IMMEDIATELY SUSPENDS ALL FEDERAL FUNDING TO MINNESOTA AMID FRAUD INVESTIGATION
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would withhold funds for programs in five Democratic states over fraud concerns. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
“Families who rely on childcare and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement on Tuesday.
The states, which include California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, argued in court filings that the federal government didn’t have the legal right to end the funds and that the new policy is creating “operational chaos” in the states.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian at his nomination hearing in 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In total, the states said they receive more than $10 billion in federal funding for the programs.
HHS said it had “reason to believe” that the programs were offering funds to people in the country illegally.
‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’: SENATE REPUBLICANS PRESS GOV WALZ OVER MINNESOTA FRAUD SCANDAL
The table above shows the five states and their social safety net funding for various programs which are being withheld by the Trump administration over allegations of fraud. (AP Digital Embed)
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the lawsuit, called the ruling a “critical victory for families whose lives have been upended by this administration’s cruelty.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the lawsuit, called the ruling a “critical victory for families whose lives have been upended by this administration’s cruelty.” (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital has reached out to HHS for comment.
In what might be the most decisive critique yet of President Trump’s remake of the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Opera’s board approved a resolution on Friday to leave the venue it has occupied since 1971.
“Today, the Washington National Opera announced its decision to seek an amicable early termination of its affiliation agreement with the Kennedy Center and resume operations as a fully independent nonprofit entity,” the company said in a statement to the Associated Press.
Roma Daravi, Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, described the relationship with Washington National Opera as “financially challenging.”
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to part ways with the WNO due to a financially challenging relationship,” Daravi said in a statement. “We believe this represents the best path forward for both organizations and enables us to make responsible choices that support the financial stability and long-term future of the Trump Kennedy Center.”
Kennedy Center President Ambassador Richard Grenell tweeted that the call was made by the Kennedy Center, writing that its leadership had “approached the Opera leadership last year with this idea and they began to be open to it.”
“Having an exclusive relationship has been extremely expensive and limiting in choice and variety,” Grenell wrote. “We have spent millions of dollars to support the Washington Opera’s exclusivity and yet they were still millions of dollars in the hole – and getting worse.”
WNO’s decision to vacate the Kennedy Center’s 2,364-seat Opera House comes amid a wave of artist cancellations that came after the venue’s board voted to rename the center the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. New signage featuring Trump’s name went up on the building’s exterior just days after the vote while debate raged over whether an official name change could be made without congressional approval.
That same day, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) — an ex officio member of the board — wrote on social media that the vote was not unanimous and that she and others who might have voiced their dissent were muted on the call.
Grenell countered that ex officio members don’t get a vote.
Cancellations soon began to mount — as did Kennedy Center‘s rebukes against the artists who chose not to appear. Jazz drummer Chuck Redd pulled out of his annual Christmas Eve concert; jazz supergroup the Cookers nixed New Year’s Eve shows; New York-based Doug Varone and Dancers dropped out of April performances; and Grammy Award-winning banjo player Béla Fleck wrote on social media that he would no longer play at the venue in February.
WNO’s departure, however, represents a new level of artist defection. The company’s name is synonymous with the Kennedy Center and it has served as an artistic center of gravity for the complex since the building first opened.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leveling a stunning accusation at Vice President JD Vance amid the national furor over this week’s fatal shooting in Minnesota involving an ICE agent.
“I understand that Vice President Vance believes that shooting a young mother of three in the face three times is an acceptable America that he wants to live in, and I do not,” the four-term federal lawmaker from New York and progressive champion argued as she answered questions on Friday on Capitol Hill from Fox News and other news organizations.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good after she confronted ICE agents from inside her car in Minneapolis.
RENEE NICOLE GOOD PART OF ‘ICE WATCH’ GROUP, DHS SOURCES SAY
Members of law enforcement work the scene following a suspected shooting by an ICE agent during federal operations on January 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Video of the incident instantly went viral, and while Democrats have heavily criticized the shooting, the Trump administration is vocally defending the actions of the ICE agent.
HEAD HERE FOR LIVE FOX NEWS UPDATES ON THE ICE SHOOTING IN MINNESOTA
Vance, at a White House briefing on Thursday, charged that “this was an attack on federal law enforcement. This was an attack on law and order.”
“That woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation,” the vice president added. “The president stands with ICE, I stand with ICE, we stand with all of our law enforcement officers.”
And Vance claimed Good was “brainwashed” and suggested she was connected to a “broader, left-wing network.”
Federal sources told Fox News on Friday that Good, who was a mother of three, worked as a Minneapolis-based immigration activist serving as a member of “ICE Watch.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Ocasio-Cortez, in responding to Vance’s comments, said, “That is a fundamental difference between Vice President Vance and I. I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.”
But a spokesperson for the vice president, responding to Ocasio-Cortez’s accusation, told Fox News Digital, “On National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, AOC made it clear she thinks that radical leftists should be able to mow down ICE officials in broad daylight. She should be ashamed of herself. The Vice President stands with ICE and the brave men and women of law enforcement, and so do the American people.”
Timothy Busfield Charged With Child Sex Abuse On ‘The Cleaning Lady’s New Mexico Set; WBTV Will “Cooperate With Law Enforcement”
North Carolina confirms 5th measles case as South Carolina’s outbreak surges
Hoeven, Armstrong, Traynor speak on OBBB Rural Health Transformation Fund updates in ND
Ohio high school girls basketball scores: Friday, Jan. 9, 2026
Former Oklahoma State QB Zane Flores announces transfer destination in the Big 12
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Federal judge blocks Trump from cutting childcare funds to Democratic states over fraud concerns
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,416
Trump administration can’t block child care, other program money for 5 states: Judge
AOC accuses Vance of believing ‘American people should be assassinated in the street’
Mercosur: How Macron’s domestic weakness undercut his Brussels clout
-
Detroit, MI6 days ago2 hospitalized after shooting on Lodge Freeway in Detroit
-
Technology4 days agoPower bank feature creep is out of control
-
Dallas, TX5 days agoDefensive coordinator candidates who could improve Cowboys’ brutal secondary in 2026
-
Dallas, TX1 day agoAnti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis
-
Health6 days agoViral New Year reset routine is helping people adopt healthier habits
-
Iowa3 days agoPat McAfee praises Audi Crooks, plays hype song for Iowa State star
-
Nebraska3 days agoOregon State LB transfer Dexter Foster commits to Nebraska
-
Nebraska4 days agoNebraska-based pizza chain Godfather’s Pizza is set to open a new location in Queen Creek