Federal Funding Cuts by DOGE Impact America's 250th Anniversary Celebrations

Sweeping cuts to federal funding by Elon Musk's DOGE initiative mean that small towns across the nation have been forced to pare down planned celebrations for America's 250th anniversary.

DOGE cut more than $100 million in grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities last April at the direction of the administration because the funding did not align with President Donald Trump’s agenda.

As part of its role, the National Endowment for the Humanities offers grants to state councils and nonprofits to support cultural and historical education. But DOGE’s cuts meant that humanities councils in Ohio, Illinois, Arizona, West Virginia and more were left with dwindling funds to celebrate the nation’s landmark birthday.

In Ohio, the humanities council scaled back planned America 250 programs and events to a smaller “passport” project, which encourages people to visit local historical sites, NOTUS reported Wednesday.

“There’s certainly things that we could have done for America 250 if the funding was available. That just didn’t work out how we thought it could have,” Meghan Reed, executive director of the Trumbull County Historical Society in Ohio, told NOTUS.

Arizona Humanities, a nonprofit, is relying on federal funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as well as a mix of state and nonprofit funding to support its Arizona Speaks program, which brings experts from diverse fields around the state.

The West Virginia Humanities Council opted to adapt an already-existing lecture series to celebrate the nation’s birthday, executive director Eric Waggoner told the West Virginia Gazette-Mail.

“If you were a museum, or a historical society, or a school that wanted to put something up for the 250th, we had planned to set aside a whole tranche of grant funding,” Waggoner said. “But we couldn’t do it. That money is gone.”

Weeks after DOGE employees began embedding themselves in the Trump administration last spring, the team cut grants at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Employees used ChatGPT to flag grants related to keywords such as diversity, LGBTQ+, immigration and more, plaintiffs who sued the National Endowment for the Humanities said.

The Independent has contacted the White House, Federation of State Humanities Councils and the National Endowment for the Humanities for comment.

The grant cuts were part of DOGE’s wider goal of reducing the federal workforce and federal spending. DOGE was subsequently accused of indiscriminately firing employees, getting rid of federal programs and hurting agencies without considering ramifications.

While restricting funding to states, the National Endowment for the Humanities directed funds back to programs approved by the president, including an “American Heroes” sculpture garden.

“As the director of Ohio Humanities, I don’t take any sort of position about those particular projects. But what I do think is important is that Americans have access to funding and have access to history and humanities experiences in their own communities,” Rebecca Asmo, the executive director of Ohio Humanities, told NOTUS.

“These are taxpayer dollars that are intended to go to local communities. And right now, they’re being held back and funneled to projects in Washington, D.C.,” Asmo added.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that DOGE’s cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities were unconstitutional and created a “chilling effect” because it was viewpoint-based.

But the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the national membership organization for state humanities councils, said there's no guarantee that humanities councils will see their full appropriation this year.

America’s 250th anniversary is being celebrated at scale in Washington, D.C., with the Great American State Fair, the Salute of America fireworks celebration, a UFC fight on the White House lawn, a parade and more.