Barragán Slams Trump Admin for Freezing Funds to Harbor Community Health Clinic

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Rep. Nanette Barragán, flanked by Harbor Community Heath Clinic CEOk, Tamara King, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Caleb Lusk, and HarborCHC patients, started the Jan. 29 press conference by calling the Donald Trump administration’s federal funding freeze a “rip-off.” 

Last week, Random Lengths reported that Harbor Community Health Clinic would push back hard alongside their friends in Congress if the administration came for them. This week, HarborCHC did just that, in front of HarborCHC’s 425 South Pacific Avenue location.

“President Trump and Republicans are attempting to rip-off and steal taxpayer dollars, grants, and financial assistance from hardworking Americans,” Barragan thundered. “These are dollars that have already been approved by the US Congress by the House and the Senate, and signed by the prior president.” 

The memo Barragan was referring to was issued on Jan. 27  by the Office of Management and Budget, and in the aftermath, spurred states, schools, and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington to action.

By the time the press conferences started, convicted felon President Trump had rescinded the memo freezing spending on federal loans and grants, but the damage the action caused is still being assessed.

Barragan noted that this “Republican rip-off” would increase costs and cut off critical services for children, seniors on fixed incomes, and low-income families. 

“It has caused chaos in our communities as our local governments and our nonprofits instilled fear on whether their funding will be cut at any moment without any due process,” Barragan said. 

Barragan noted that the memo essentially shut down federal funding and told providers that funds would not be available. 

“We have heard from people in the state of California who were trying to access the Medicaid system, but couldn’t get in. This automatically caused fear of whether dollars were still going to be available,” Barragan said.

HarborCHC followed Barragan, striking a chord of disappointment in the Trump administration’s distractions while expressing determination to continue to provide the best care possible.

“At Harbor Community Health Centers we are excellent stewards of our federal funding, and we provide HRSA deemed “Gold Badge care” for our patients, having received the Health Center Quality Leader Gold Badge in 2024,” King said in a statement mirroring her comments at the press conference. “The current administration’s funding freeze was distracting and discouraging yet we will continue to operate at best practices as we have for 55 years, through all kinds of administrations. Our highest priority is to provide affordable, quality, comprehensive healthcare and supportive services to the San Pedro community.” 

In Long Beach, Rep. Robert Garcia sounded the same alarm:

Last night, in the dead of night, the Donald Trump Administration took a drastic confusing, and chaotic action that is incredibly harmful to the state of California, the County of Los Angeles, and of course, the entire country. Let’s be crystal clear about what he did… almost every single piece of the federal government, every type of grant or support that the federal government gives to communities has been disrupted and thrown into chaos.

Right now as we speak the Medicaid portal for low-income and poor kids and families is completely shut down in all 50 states. Yeah, they’re saying that Medicaid is going to continue working. Today nonprofit service providers, local government officials like the mayor, and others are trying to understand the impact on our cities, our nonprofits, our hospitals, and our universities and schools.