WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is ordering changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that would disqualify workers of nonprofit groups deemed to have engaged in “improper” activities.

An executive order being signed Friday directs the Education Department to modify the program to deny loan relief to some borrowers. It would exclude loan forgiveness to people whose work is tied to illegal immigration, foreign terrorist groups or other illegal activity, White House officials said.

Congress created the program in 2007 to encourage careers in the government or nonprofit groups. It offers to cancel any remaining student debt after borrowers make 10 years of payments while working in public service. It’s open to government workers, teachers, police, religious pastors and certain nonprofit employees, among others.

More than 2 million Americans have eligible employment and open student loans, according to December data from the Education Department.

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Education Secretary Linda McMahon pledged to continue Public Service Loan Forgiveness as ordered by Congress. “That’s the law,” she said in response to questions from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Under current rules, nonprofits are eligible if they focus on certain areas including public interest law, public health or education. Trump’s order appears to target those who work in certain fields at odds with his political agenda, including immigration.

Advocates have gone to court to defend the program in the past, and Trump’s action is almost certain to face legal challenges. It drew quick backlash from advocates.

“Threatening to punish hardworking Americans for their employers’ perceived political views is about as flagrant a violation of the First Amendment as you can imagine,” said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network.

Updating eligibility rules typically requires the Education Department to go through a lengthy federal rulemaking process. Any new regulation that started this year would usually not take effect until 2027.

The forgiveness program has been the subject of a political tug of war since Trump’s first term, when borrowers first started hitting the 10-year finish line.

The vast majority who applied for relief in 2017 were rejected because they were found to have enrolled in ineligible payment plans or failed to meet other criteria. An investigation by a federal watchdog group concluded the Education Department had failed to make the program’s eligibility rules clear.

Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department loosened the program’s rules through a federal rulemaking process, expanding eligibility to people who would have been denied previously.

In its final weeks, the Biden administration announced it had granted relief to more than 1 million people through the program, up from 7,000 who were granted cancellation during Trump’s first term.

The Biden administration changes were assailed by Republican lawmakers who said only Congress had the authority to change the program’s rules.

Biden also pushed for broader student loan cancellation but was blocked by the Supreme Court and by repeated legal challenges from Republican-led states.

Republicans have been sharply opposed to student loan cancellation, saying it unfairly passes the cost to taxpayers who already repaid their loans or didn’t go to college.

___

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Collin Binkley, The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin election officials voted Friday to force Madison city workers to sit for depositions as they try to learn more about how nearly 200 absentee ballots in November’s election went uncounted.

The uncounted ballots in the state’s capital city didn’t affect any results, but the Wisconsin Elections Commission still launched an investigation in January to determine whether Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl violated state law or abused her discretion. She didn’t notify the elections commission of the uncounted ballots until December, almost a month and a half after the election and well after the results were certified on Nov. 29.

Commissioners astounded at failure to count ballots

The commission hasn’t made a decision yet on whether Witzel-Behl acted illegally or improperly, but commissioners appeared flabbergasted at the failure to count the ballots as they reviewed the investigation during a meeting Friday. Chair Ann Jacobs was particularly incensed with Witzel-Behl for not launching her own in-depth probe immediately.

“This feels like a complete lack of leadership and a refusal to be where the buck stops,” Jacobs said. “You don’t get to put your head in the sand for weeks. … I am genuinely shocked by this timeline.”

Don Millis said it was a “travesty” that the ballots were never counted. “You’re telling the world that these 193 people didn’t vote in what many thought was the most consequential election of our lifetime,” he said.

What did the commission decide to do?

The commission voted unanimously to authorize Jacobs and Millis to question Madison city employees in depositions — question-and-answer periods usually led by attorneys in which the subject gives sworn testimony. Jacobs said she would confer with Millis about who to question but Witzel-Behl will likely be one of the subjects.

Madison city attorney Mike Haas, who was in the audience, told The Associated Press outside the meeting that he would not fight the depositions. “The city wants to get to the bottom of this as much as anyone else,” he said.

The commission also voted unanimously to send a message to clerks around the state informing them of the problems in Madison and warning them to scour polling places for any uncounted ballots during the upcoming April 1 election. Jacobs said she plans to call for more substantial changes to state election policy going into the 2026 elections after commissioners learn more about what happened in Madison.

The investigation’s findings so far

The city clerk’s office discovered 67 unprocessed absentee ballots in a courier bag that had been placed in a security cart on Nov. 12, the day election results were canvassed.

Witzel-Behl said she told two employees to notify the elections commission, but neither did. A third employee visited the Dane County Clerk’s Office in person to inform officials there of the discovery. That employee said he didn’t remember what the Dane County clerk said, but he recalled a “general sense” that the county would not want the ballots for the canvass.

The Dane County clerk, Scott McDonell, told the commission that he knew nothing of the uncounted ballots until they were reported in the media.

The clerk’s office discovered another 125 uncounted absentee ballots in a sealed courier bag in a supply tote on Dec. 2. Witzel-Behl said she didn’t inform county canvassers because the canvass was finished and, based on the county’s response to Nov. 12 discovery, she didn’t think the county would be interested.

The elections commission wasn’t notified of either discovery until Dec. 18. Witzel-Behl said the employees she asked to notify the commission waited until reconciliation was completed. Reconciliation is a routine process in which poll workers and elections officials ensure an election’s accuracy, including checking the number of ballots issued at the polls to the number of voters.

Holes in protocols

The investigators noted that Madison polling places’ absentee ballot logs didn’t list the number of courier bags for each ward, which would have told election inspectors how many bags to account for while processing ballots.

City election officials also had no procedures for confirming the number of absentee ballots received with the number counted. Witzel-Behl said that information was emailed to election inspectors the weekend before the election, but no documents provided the total number of ballots received.

If Witzel-Behl had looked through everything to check for courier bags and absentee ballot envelopes before the election was certified the missing ballots could have been counted, investigators said.

Witzel-Behl also couldn’t explain why she didn’t contact the county or the state elections commission herself, investigators said.

Voters prep for lawsuit

Four Madison voters whose ballots weren’t counted filed claims Thursday for $175,000 each from the city and Dane County, the first step toward initiating a lawsuit.

Todd Richmond, The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration said Friday that it’s pulling $400 million from Columbia University, canceling grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.

The notice came five days after federal agencies announced they were considering orders to stop work on $51 million in contracts with the New York City university and reviewing its eligibility for over $5 billion in federal grants going forward. And it came after Columbia set up a new disciplinary committee and ramped up its own investigations into students critical of Israel, alarming free speech advocates.

But Columbia’s efforts evidently didn’t go far enough for the federal government.

“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement Friday.

Columbia vowed to work with the government to try to get the money back.

“We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff,” the university said in a statement.

It is not clear which research, projects or activities will be affected at Columbia, which operates a medical center among many other functions. The university said it was reviewing the announcement. An inquiry was sent to the federal Education Department, which issued Friday’s announcement along with the Health and Justice departments and the General Services Administration.

Columbia has become the first target in President Donald Trump’s campaign to cut federal money to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

The university was at the forefront of U.S. campus protests over the war last spring. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment in April and inspired a wave of similar protests. Protesters at Columbia went on to seize a campus building, resulting in dozens of arrests when police cleared the building.

In recent days, a much smaller contingent of demonstrators have staged brief occupations of buildings at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College to protest the expulsion of two students accused of disrupting an Israeli history class. Several students were arrested following an hourslong takeover of a building Wednesday.

Many people involved in the protests said there’s nothing antisemitic about criticizing Israel over its actions in Gaza or expressing solidarity with Palestinians.

Columbia has acknowledged concerns about antisemitism: A university task force said last summer that Jews and Israelis at the school were ostracized from student groups, humiliated in classrooms and subjected to verbal abuse amid the spring demonstrations.

Some students, and an attorney advising them, see its new disciplinary crackdown as an effort to mollify the government by suppressing pro-Palestinian speech.

Columbia was one of five colleges that has come under new federal antisemitism investigations, and it’s one of 10 being visited by a task force in response to allegations that the colleges have failed to protect Jewish students.

Others under investigation include the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; Northwestern University; and Portland State University.

Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press

The Trump administration has stalled at least $60 million in funding intended largely for affordable housing developments nationwide, throwing hundreds of projects into a precarious limbo, according to information and documents obtained by The Associated Press

The move is part of a flurry of funding freezes, staffing cuts and contract cancellations by the Trump administration at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, changes that have instilled widespread uncertainty in the affordable housing industry.

The some $60 million is intended to go to small community development nonprofits in small grants. The money is often used as seed funding for affordable housing projects, turning a concept into a viable development and consequently drawing in more public and private investment.

Congress chose three nonprofits to distribute the grants, but HUD said in letters that it was cancelling contracts with two of the organizations which together were to distribute the $60 million. That’s pushed millions in funding already promised to small nonprofits, or yet to be awarded, into the twilight zone.

“Many of those organizations have already committed funds to pay workers, such as HVAC technicians, local contractors, homeownership counselors,” said Shaun Donovan, CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, one of the two groups whose contract was cancelled.

“They will have to stop that work immediately. That will cost local jobs, hobble the creation of affordable homes, and stall opportunity in hundreds of communities.”

A spokesperson for HUD said the program, called Section 4, will continue and is not being cut, but that “the department is consolidating some grants, while others remain.”

It remains unclear how or when the funding will arrive to the small nonprofits, which has thrown their work into disarray.

“Not knowing for me means we assume that the money is not coming, and that means that I have to pivot,” said Jonathan Green, executive director of a nonprofit in Mississippi that’s building a 36-unit affordable housing development in Biloxi.

Green said about $20,000 in grant dollars are now in limbo, money that was meant to pay for an environmental review that could cost upwards of $10,000, and licenses and permits. That threatens discussions Green is having with potential partners and investors who want to see all the up-front work done first.

“My fear is that, if the project stops altogether, we may never get it started again,” he said.

The development is supposed to be in East Biloxi, where lots still remain empty after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Before an ounce of dirt has been moved on the project, Green’s organization has received enough calls from people eager to become tenants that they’ve started a waiting list.

That’s the position hundreds of other small nonprofits have found themselves in, with not just their grant funds in question but investments on the line. For every dollar in grants disbursed by Enterprise Community Partners, the local nonprofits leverage another $95 in other capital, CEO Donovan said.

Congress gave the national nonprofits the job of administering the grants, fielding and assessing hundreds of applications, so that the government doesn’t have to, Donovan said.

In one of the contract termination letters obtained by the AP, HUD said the contracts were cancelled at the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency. It said the group’s operations “were not in compliance” with Trump’s executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The letter also allows the organizations to appeal the termination.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation is the other group whose contract was cancelled.

“Without access to this seed capital, housing projects for hardworking, families will stall, worsening shortages and pushing distressed neighbors into overcrowded conditions or homelessness,” it said in a statement.

Habitat for Humanity International is the third nonprofit disbursing the grants, but the organization has not responded to repeated requests for comment or said if their contract was cancelled.

___

Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has issued new guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 now require approval from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The guidance, issued this week, escalates the role that the new efficiency group, known as DOGE, plays in EPA operations.

“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction (valued at) $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,″ the EPA guidance says, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

To facilitate the DOGE team review, EPA staff members have been directed to submit a brief, one-page explanation of each funding action each day between 3 and 6 p.m. Eastern time, the guidance says. Other relevant forms also must be completed.

President Donald Trump has tasked DOGE with digging up what he and Musk call waste, fraud and abuse. The Republican president suggested Thursday that Cabinet members and agency leaders would take the lead on spending and staffing cuts, but he said Musk could push harder down the line.

“If they can cut, it’s better,” Trump said of agency leaders. “And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”

The EPA did not respond to a request Friday for comment.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the new directive “troubling,” adding that it means agency actions, including routine contracts and grant awards, “now face unnecessary bureaucratic delays.”

Routine expenditures such as small-scale grants for air and water quality monitoring, laboratory equipment purchases, hazardous waste disposal at federal sites and money for municipal recycling programs are among spending that will probably be affected, he said.

Whitehouse, an outspoken critic of Musk and Trump, said the involvement of Musk’s “unvetted, inexperienced team raises serious concerns about improper external influence on specialized agency decision-making.”

In a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Whitehouse said spending actions greater than $50,000 are often complex and require specialized knowledge of environmental science, policy and regulations. “Allowing unskilled, self-proclaimed ‘experts,’ not vetted for conflicts of interest, to have veto power over funding determinations is inappropriate and risks compromising the agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment,” Whitehouse wrote.

An EPA directive says the new guidance is intended to comply with executive orders issued by Trump that seek to restrict federal spending.

Whitehouse called those orders illegal, adding: “It is already established by court order that it is Congress that authorizes and appropriates funds for specific purposes, not the (White House) Office of Management and Budget or the president via executive order or DOGE.”

The dispute over the spending guidelines comes as Zeldin has pledged sharp spending cuts as high as 65% at the agency.

“We don’t need to be spending all that money that went through the EPA last year,” Zeldin said last week. “We don’t want it. We don’t need it. The American public needs it and we need to balance the budget.”

President Joe Biden requested about $10.9 billion for the EPA in the current budget year, an increase of 8.5% over the previous one, but Zeldin said the agency needs far less money to do its work. He also criticized EPA grants authorized under the 2022 climate law, including $20 billion for a so-called green bank to pay for climate and clean-energy programs.

Zeldin has vowed to revoke contracts for the still-emerging bank program that is set to fund tens of thousands of projects to fight climate change and promote environmental justice.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said last week that Trump, DOGE and Zeldin are all “committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.”

A 65% reduction in spending would be devastating to the EPA and its mission, said Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238. Core actions such as monitoring air and water quality, responding to natural disasters and lead abatement, among other agency functions, are at risk, she said.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

SAUK CITY, Wis. (AP) — They came to vent and to cry and to exhort.

The overflow crowd of frustrated Democrats who met this week in a small Wisconsin city’s library voiced anger over President Donald Trump, his billionaire adviser Elon Musk and the direction of the country. One person called for riots. Another said he was embarrassed to be an American.

But their barbs weren’t limited to Republicans.

Some Democrats who gathered under St. Patrick’s Day decorations in the Sauk City library’s meeting room questioned their own party’s messaging and expressed fear about losing a high-stakes upcoming state Supreme Court election.

The April 1 election will be a litmus test early in Trump’s term in a key presidential swing state. Control of the court is on the line as it faces cases over abortion and reproductive rights, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries.

Sauk County, home to small towns like Baraboo, Prairie du Sac and the tourist city Wisconsin Dells, has voted for the winner of the past five presidential races, including Trump in 2016 and 2024 and former President Joe Biden in 2020.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler called it “the most bellwether county in the most bellwether state.”

More than 170 people turned out for the Thursday night event billed by Wisconsin Democrats as a “People v. Musk” town hall. They held signs that said “Don’t Let Elon Musk Buy Wisconsin” and “Trump is Weak on Musk.”

One by one they took the microphone to cajole, rage and commiserate. One transgender woman begged fellow Democrats to “not forget about us.”

“We won’t!” someone in the crowd shouted back.

The town hall was the first of several planned to generate excitement for the Democratic-backed candidate running in the state Supreme Court election, Susan Crawford. She is running against Brad Schimel, a former Republican state attorney general supported by Musk.

Groups backed by Musk have poured more than $5 million into the race, casting the election of Schimel as imperative to protecting Trump’s agenda.

Wikler, who presided over the meeting, put the stakes of the race in stark terms: “We are in a fight for democracy itself.”

Here is some of the attendees had to say:

Maureen Oostdik, 77, retired public health worker from Lodi

Oostdik, a lifelong Democrat, told The Associated Press that she’s frustrated with the Supreme Court campaign and previously called the Democratic Party to tell them “their PR is horrible” and “you guys are going to lose.”

“Your ads, they’re not good,” she said of those for Crawford. “It’s basically all about abortion, but there are a lot of people who are crossover voters. They’re not necessarily in one camp or another. They don’t have a broad strategy for capturing what other people may be interested in.”

Oostdik said she didn’t think the traditional ways of running campaigns, like going door to door to talk to voters, were effective anymore.

“I don’t know what the gameplan is, but it feels like we’re on the heels of a big loss and I don’t have a lot of hope for April,” she said.

Laurel Burns, 40, customer service worker from Sauk City

Burns, a single mother of two teenagers who works part-time in customer service for an insurance company, was born without arms and gets about half of her income from Social Security. Burns said she came to represent other disabled people who are scared about possible cuts to Medicaid and Social Security.

“It’s a very scary time for a lot of people,” Burns said.

That’s why Burns thinks Democrats will be motivated to vote in the Supreme Court race.

“I feel like we’ve been sleeping behind the wheel a little bit,” she said. “Hopefully people do the right thing.”

Tracey Baggot, 68, massage therapist from Wisconsin Dells

“I’m really upset,” Baggot said before the town hall began.

Upset about what?

“The obvious. Trump,” she said. “That’s the first time I’ve said his name in a long time.”

Baggot called Musk a “joke.”

“He has no right being involved in any of the government, politics or decision making at all,” she said.

Baggot said she came out to Thursday’s meeting because Democrats “really got to increase our energy.”

Despite her concerns, Baggot said she was optimistic about the Democratic-backed Crawford winning the upcoming Supreme Court election.

“I really feel that she has a great chance,” she said. “I’m feeling really positive about this. I thought the same about Kamala, but it didn’t work out. But I feel so much is changing now.”

Susan Knower, 71, therapist from Baraboo

“What I see in Sauk County is we are angry and we are afraid,” Knower, who chairs the Sauk County Democratic Party, told the audience.

Knower said she was “thrilled” that Democrats were attempting to link Musk with Schimel.

“It’s so important that we make sure everyone knows Brad Schimmel is going to promote these MAGA-extreme policies,” she said.

Knower referred to a Marquette University Law School poll of Wisconsin voters released this week that showed virtually all Democrats had an unfavorable opinion of Musk.

“Make sure when you’re talking to people we connect Elon Musk to Brad Schimel and to Donald Trump,” she said.

Schimel endorsed Trump and has said he would welcome Trump’s involvement in the court race. In addition to the money Musk has poured into the race, he also posted on his social media platform X that it was “very important” to elect a Republican.

Timothy Hinton, 72, retired doctor from New Lisbon

Hinton said he doesn’t know much about the court race, other than that he’s voting for Crawford.

“I saw her interviewed on television,” he said. “She made a lot of sense.”

Hinton said the country is “immersed in complete and utter chaos,” but he’s not sure if fellow Democrats will feel motivated to express their concerns by voting in the state Supreme Court election.

“I think if Democrats show up, they will win,” he said. “If they don’t show up, she will lose. It’s that simple, in my mind.”

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press