1. United States
2. Fla.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to show support for libraries by actively protecting the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) from being effectively dismantled.  On March 14, President Trump issued an executive order to functionally eliminate IMLS in the executive order titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.” If this overreaching order is allowed to stand unchallenged, it will hurt millions of Americans who rely on libraries by ignoring the fact that the executive branch does not have the authority to actually do this to IMLS. In 1996, Congress passed the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) that established IMLS. Congress has, in its authority, continued to fund IMLS; no president can constitutionally stop appropriations issued by Congress. IMLS’s FY2025 funding was given by Congress and then signed by President Trump on March 14, 2025 — the same day he issued the EO to cripple this law he had just signed.   Library funding uses under 0.003% of the annual federal budget, and yet IMLS makes a real difference for Americans every day[https://www.ala.org/news/2025/03/ala-statement-white-house-assault-institute-museum-and-library-services?check_logged_in=1]. Libraries provide classes for jobseekers, services for people with disabilities, library delivery for older Americans, and so much more. The executive order puts these services at risk. Supplemental federal funding is essential to ensure that libraries in areas with lower incomes — arguably the areas most in need of library services — are still able to provide these services. (How can one pull oneself up by their bootstraps if you take away the bootstraps?) In IMLS’s FY2025 appropriations request to Congress — which I assume you read as part of your job — advises on page 7 that “IMLS funds work that advances collective knowledge, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement.” I would be very interested to know what part(s) of that work you feel are okay to sacrifice for the sake of not taking a stand for the Constitution. Florida alone benefits (or, at least, would have if this order weren’t attempting to undo the law) from grants that total just under $11.5M, and Orange County is in the top five FL counties that utilize this funding [https://www.imls.gov/imls-dashboard?state=FL&fiscal_year=2024]. Why are you allowing this unconstitutional act to hurt your own constituents? Protect the role of Congress and take a stand against this.