In his first two weeks back in office, President Donald Trump issued executive orders at a blistering pace.
Already, his administration is reshaping how the government approaches wide-ranging issues like federal spending, immigration, gender and climate, among other things.
Local officials are figuring out how to respond to many of those seismic shifts, including State Treasurer Mike Pieciak. His office created a task force to help guide Vermont through the transition into the second Trump presidency.
Pieciak recently sat down with Vermont Public producer Nathaniel Wilson to share more. This piece was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Nathaniel Wilson: To start, can you describe why you decided to form a task force?

Mike Pieciak: Yeah. So we thought back — I thought back — about the first Trump presidency. I was at the Department of Financial Regulation at that time as the commissioner. When we were proactively communicating with all the stakeholders in other parts of state government, within the private sector, within small businesses, nonprofits, hospitals — we were able to better protect Vermonters and get ahead of fast-changing federal policy. When we weren't doing a great job of being proactively coordinated, I noticed there were times where maybe we didn't do a great job of getting ahead of this fast-changing policy.
Nathaniel Wilson: Have there been similar panels for earlier presidential transitions?
Mike Pieciak: I can think of any. I know that other state treasurers across the country are coordinated together, and are thinking about doing something similar to what we're doing in Vermont. You know, I think what's unique about this administration relative to other presidential transitions is they sort of were promising a lot of change coming into office.
I think you could have one of these [transition task forces] whenever there's a change in administration, because there will be change in federal policy, and you want to be thinking about: what are the opportunities that will come from that new administration, the new policy changes? And then what are the challenges that you want to be able to sort of think about and work through? But it was particularly applicable here, where we knew that the goal was going to be sort of fast-moving, disruptive policy changes.
Nathaniel Wilson: Who comprises this task force? What kind of work are you doing, and how will Vermonters feel that work?
Mike Pieciak: Our co-chair is Sue Minter, who was the secretary of transportation under Gov. Shumlin. She previously was a disaster recovery officer during Hurricane Irene. She had run Capstone [Community Action], which is the largest social service provider in central Vermont. Other than Sue, we have a representative from a rural hospital. We have a representative from a business community, a nonprofit, immigration expert. We have a representative that recently was in the federal government, and then we have someone that is part of the regional planning commission network — so someone that works with municipalities, works with local government.
And then how will people feel the work of this committee — you know, it'll be sort of broken up into a couple of areas. One thing we're doing, and I think this will be the first sort of proactive thing that has come out of the committee, is we're hosting a webinar Thursday at 11 o'clock for small businesses and nonprofits. So basically for employers, thinking about: what should you be prepared for, and what should you do if [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] shows up at your door as an employer, what are your responsibilities? What are your rights? This was something that came out of the task force work. We heard from a task force member who said they were frustrated that they had to be thinking through this kind of an issue, instead of focusing on their business. And it just sort of sprung on us. Well, what if we're bringing experts in who can help businesses, nonprofits think about this issue together?
What happens if the federal money is not as certain in the future?Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak
We've also thought about policy ideas, this idea that maybe Vermont should be thinking about reserving for natural disasters in the future. So we have reserves in our budgets in case there's an economic downturn, things that we can tap into. But maybe we should do the same thing specifically for natural disasters, both because they're happening a lot and frequently in Vermont, and we rely heavily on the federal government in that regard. So just purely having funds available for matching funds is important. But what happens if the federal money is not as certain in the future?
So we'll continue to be thinking about policies, again, that we can be suggesting to the Legislature, advocacy we can be doing to the federal delegation, work we can be doing with the administration, and just communication that we can be doing broadly to Vermonters, individual business owners, nonprofits and the like to try to help them make good decisions in this changing federal environment,
Nathaniel Wilson: The Trump administration sent out a memo saying federal spending on all grants and loans would be halted while they review government policies. A judge blocked that order before it was ultimately rescinded. Then the White House press secretary came out and said a funding freeze would still be "rigorously implemented." It's unclear as we record this exactly how that will work, which has raised confusion nationally among some government officials. But setting the plan itself aside for a second, how do these situations impact how the state and organizations that rely on federal funding go about their business?
Mike Pieciak: Well, it sows confusion and it sows chaos at the bottom line. I mean, we've heard from nonprofits throughout the week who said, "Hey, we went into our funding portal where we usually get an opportunity to pull down federal funds for the programs that we operate, or to make payroll, and we were closed out of those portals." And it was concerning. It was shocking. They told us, "We might be able to make it a few weeks, but after that, we're going to have to start cutting critical services that we provide to Vermonters." So hearing that, hearing organizations across the state having that same experience.
Hearing from Medicaid departments across the country who said they were shut out, states were shut out, of their Medicaid portal was really concerning. And again, caused a lot of confusion, caused a lot of chaos. And organizations that normally would be doing the work of housing and feeding and protecting people were distracted by, "Oh my gosh, this is an existential crisis. What do we do in a week or two weeks or one month or two months from now?" So that was really concerning.
When you think about the Vermont budget, 36% of our state budget contains federal funding. And most of that funding is for federal programs that the federal government has said states are directed to operate, or in partnership with the federal government. So the federal government is telling us, "You have to operate this program." And then they're threatening to withhold the funding to operate the program. So that is, again, really disruptive when you think about state government and the ways that we plan and operate, and make sure that we have the amount of cash that we need in the treasurer's office to make sure we're making payroll and filling projects and, you know, moving forward on plans that have been in the works for a long time. And then when there is a threat of funding being withheld, that throws all of that into chaos.
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