Amid recent executive actions by President Donald Trump aimed at downsizing and slashing federal spending, a loud and clear call for action is ringing out to local agencies: Prepare for potential slashes in federal funding.

“You just got to be prepared—it’s coming–whether it’s some or all… but expect some cuts,” said Senator Vince Borja.

That message resonated throughout key agencies like the Guam Department of Education, Guam Academy Charter Schools Council, University of Guam, Guam Community College, Guam Public Library System, and PBS Guam.

All of which are under Sen. Borja’s legislative oversight.

“What I’m going to ask from the agencies is to put together the worst case scenario—if this or that gets cut, what is the impact, what services are we going to lose, and then that’s my job to go back to the legislature and look at the local funding and be able to support that,” said Borja.

Borja is already digging deep into the details of federal grants and programs across these institutions, ranking them by the risk of being cut, from high to moderate to low.

For instance, GDOE’s Literacy Grant program, with more than $36,000 from the USDOE, is earmarked as high risk.

Guam DOE’s Head Start program, funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, also falls under the “great risk” category.

“The Headstart program is not necessarily being cut–but Trump did say that he doesn’t feel like we need to continue to give more money to that. So, that’s something that we rated as high," added Borja.

And in line with Trump's recent executive orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs in the federal government, funds for CHamoru Language and Culture at UOG, supported by USHHS, have also been placed in the high-risk category.

Borja emphasized the need for agencies to make a contingency plan in the event of federal funding cuts.

“The call to action is to review your federal grants/funding, understand the impacts, and be able to present that to the legislature,” he added.

The freshman senator added making sure the core functions of government are well funded is at the forefront of GovGuam budget discussions.