Kaine, Colleagues Demand DOJ Reverse Cancellation of Hundreds of Public Safety Grants

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and 28 of his Senate colleagues wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) urging U.S. Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi and Deputy Assistant AG Maureen Henneberg to reverse the abrupt cancellation of hundreds of public safety grants that serve crime victims and improve public safety in communities across the nation. In the letter, the senators demanded that the DOJ provide reasoning and background information regarding the decision to cancel the grants and called for the immediate restoration of the funding.

“On April 22, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) notified hundreds of grant recipients across the country, without warning, that their funding had been terminated, effective immediately. Many of these grants are authorized by Congress and support programs that have enhanced public safety in communities rural and urban, affluent and poor, Democratic and Republican. While this Administration continues to market itself as the administration of law and order and public safety, DOJ has decided to defund programs that prosecutors, police and sheriff’s departments, judges, mental health service providers,  academics, and more depend on to advance the Department’s longstanding ‘core mission of keeping Americans safe and vigorously enforcing the law,’” the senators wrote. 

The senators continued, “Based on public reporting, outreach from grantees, and a DOJ Justice Management Division  (JMD) spreadsheet (Encl. 1), it appears that the Department defunded at least 365 public safety grants on April 22, 2025. A review of this information reveals that these grants provide support for victims of crime and resources for communities to ensure public safety.”

“The magnitude of these defunding measures, Congress’ role in authorizing and appropriating grant funds, and the negative impacts that the sudden termination of funding will have on public safety in communities across the country, requires the immediate review of the processes and decisions that led to the cancellation of these critical grants,” the senators wrote.

In addition to calling for the restoration of all canceled grants, the senators posed the following questions:

1. A DOJ JMD spreadsheet (Encl. 1) lists 365 grants that were terminated on April  22.
   1. Does this spreadsheet represent the entire universe of grants that were  terminated?  
   2. Are there grants that were terminated that are not reflected on the list? If so, provide the information in every column for these grants.
2. Which grants that were terminated on April 22 have since been restored? For each grant restored, please provide the reason for its restoration.  
3. How were the grants that were terminated chosen? What were the factors  considered in making the determination to terminate? Where the affected grantees were state or local jurisdictions, did the political party of state or local officials in those jurisdictions influence the determination to terminate? 
4. Were there entire categories of grants that were terminated? If so, provide the  categories.  
5. What is the legal basis for terminating grant funds that are statutorily required? 
6. Has DOJ reallocated the funds it rescinded on April 22? Provide any specific programs or purposes to which these funds will be reallocated. 
7. Will DOJ terminate any more grants, from any of its funding components, that have been obligated or are in cycle? If so, provide the grant-making component and the grants that will be terminated or are under consideration to be terminated.  
8. Was former Tesla employee turned-DOGE staffer Tarak Makecha solely responsible for selecting which grants to terminate? Provide the names of all individuals within DOJ who reviewed or approved the cancellation of the grants.  
9. Did any White House officials review the grants to be terminated or otherwise have any involvement in the decision to terminate the grants? Provide their names.

The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Peter Welch (D-VT), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Chris Murphy (D-CT). 

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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