New State Working Group is trying to “outstrip” the fast -moving action of Trump – Vermont audience

In the first two weeks, President Donald Trump issued executive orders with blisters.

Its administration is already changing how the government is approaching wide problems such as federal costs, immigration, gender and climate, among other things.

Local employees come up with how to respond to many of these seismic shifts, including state cashier Mike Pisak. His service set up a working group to help Vermont leadership through the transition in Trump’s second Presidency.

Pieciak recently sat down with public producer of Vermont Nathaniel Wilson to share more. This piece is made for the ear. We strongly recommend listening to the audio. We also provided a copy that is edited for length and clarity.

Nathaniel Wilson: For starters, can you describe why you decided to create a working group?

Nathaniel Wilson

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Vermont audience

Mike Piek: Yes. So we thought – I thought of Trump’s first presidency. At that time I was at the Ministry of Financial Regulation as a commissioner. When we proactively communicated with all stakeholders in other parts of the government, in the private sector, within small business, non-profit organizations, hospitals, we have been able to better protect Vermonters and overtake the rapidly changing federal policy. When we did not do a great job, as we were coordinated proactively, I noticed that there were times when we may have not done a great job to ahead this fast -changing politics.

Nathaniel Wilson: Were there similar panels for more presidential transitions?

Mike Piek: I can think of anyone. I know that other state cashiers across the country are coordinated together and are thinking of doing something similar to what we do in Vermont. You know, I think what is unique to this administration against other presidential transitions is that they somehow promise a lot of changes to office.

I think you could have one of them [transition task forces] Every time there is a change in administration because there will be a change in federal policy and you want to think: what are the opportunities that will come from this new administration, the new policy is changing? And then what are the challenges you want to think and work? But here it was especially applicable, where we knew that the goal would be something like fast -moving, destructive changes in politics.

Nathaniel Wilson: Who includes this working group? What work do you do and how will Vermonters feel this job?

Mike Piek: Our co -chair is Sue Minter, who was the secretary of transport at Governor Shumlin. Previously, she was an employee of disaster recovery during hurricane Irene. She had ruled Capstone [Community Action]which is the largest social service provider at Central Vermont. In addition to Sue, we have a representative from a village hospital. We have a representative from a business community, non -profit, an immigration expert. We have a representative who was recently in the federal government, and then we have someone who is part of the regional planning network – so someone who works with municipalities works with local authorities.

And then how people will feel the work of this committee – you know, it will be somehow broken in several areas. One thing we do and I think this will be the first type of proactive thing that came out of the committee is that we are hosting Webinar on Thursday at 11am for small businesses and non -profit organizations. So mainly for employers, thinking about: what you should be prepared for and what you should do if [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] It is shown to your door as an employer, what are your responsibilities? What are your rights? It was something that came out of the work of the working group. We heard from a member of a working group who said they were disappointed that they should think through this type of problem instead of focusing on their business. And it just pops up with us. Well, what if we unite experts in who can help the business, non -profit organizations think about this problem together?

We have also been thinking about political ideas, this idea that Vermont may think of reservation for natural disasters in the future. So we have reservations in our budgets if there is an economic decline, things we can use. But maybe we should do the same thing special for natural disasters as because they happen a lot and often in Vermont, and in this respect we rely largely on the federal government. So only purely the availability of funds to match funds is important. But what happens if the federal money is not so sure in the future?

So again we will continue to think about policies that we can offer the legislature, the intercession we can do to the federal delegation, work with the administration, and simply communication that we can do widely on Vermonters, individual business, Nestoponski owners organizations and the like to try to help them make good decisions in this changing federal environment,

Nathaniel Wilson: The Trump administration has sent a note stating that federal costs for all grants and loans will be suspended while reviewing government policies. A judge blocked this order before it is eventually canceled. Then the White House press secretary came out and said the freezing of funding would still be “strictly applied”. It is not clear when we record this exactly how it will work, which increases confusion on a national scale among some civil servants. But leaving the plan itself for a second, how do these situations influence how the state and organizations that rely on federal funding continue to deal with their business?

Mike Piek: Well, he sows confusion and sows chaos on the bottom line. I mean we have heard from non -profit organizations throughout the week who said, “Hey, we have entered our funding portal where we usually get the opportunity to download the federal funds for the programs we operate or make salaries, and we were closed by These portals. “And it was worried. It was shocking. They told us:” We may be able to do it for a few weeks, but then we’ll have to start cutting critical services we provide to Vermonters. the same experience.

Listening to Medicaid departments across the country, who said they were excluded, the countries were excluded from their Medicaid portal really referred to. And again, it caused a lot of confusion, it caused a lot of chaos. And organizations that would usually do the work of housing and nutrition and protection of people were distracted by: “Oh God, this is an existential crisis. What to do in a week or two weeks or one month or two months? “So that was really concerned.

When you think of Vermont’s budget, 36% of our state budget contains federal funding. And the bigger part of this funding is for federal programs that the federal government has said that countries are aimed at working or in partnership with the federal government. So the federal government tells us, “You have to manage this program.” And then they threaten to refuse funding for the operation of the program. So again this is really destructive when you think about the state government and the ways we plan and operate, and make sure that we have projects and, you know, to move forward on plans that have been under work for a long time. And then, when there is a threat to withhold funding, it throws it all into chaos.

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