SENATOR MAHER ISSUES STATEMENT RESPONDING TO DOGE CANCELLATION OF WESTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY FEDERAL GRANT

Today, State Senator Ceci Maher (D-Wilton) issued the following statement in response to the cancellation of a $25,000 federal grant committed to the Weston Historical Society in December by Elon Musk’s DOGE this week, part of a larger $3 million cancellation of grants awarded and then rescinded across Connecticut by that body.

While the National Endowment for the Humanities addressed a letter to the Weston Historical Society announcing the cancellation late on April 2, an employee of the Historical Society contacted the NEH early this morning. An employee of that organization told the Historical Society that the letter was not sent out by the NEH but by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to Samantha Fargione, the Historical Society’s executive director.

The $25,000 was meant to support “Weston at Work,” a permanent exhibit in town that would focus on Weston’s industrial history and marginalized groups in its history.

“Another day, another DOGE cut, this one in our own backyard. It’s not lost on me that this funding was stripped from a project focusing on the history of marginalized groups in Weston. It’s also not a surprise that the Trump administration is petty enough to cut grants as small as this; $25,000 for a local museum project isn’t my definition of ‘government waste.’ The cherry on top is that Elon Musk and his buddies made these cuts without even contacting the organization responsible for making them. Another day, another cut in Connecticut, another organization left scrambling to pick up the pieces at the eleventh hour. It’s heartbreaking, if not surprising.”

Contact: Joe O’Leary | 508-479-4969 | Joe.OLeary@cga.ct.gov