50 States, 50 Stories: Across the Country, Local Headlines Slam Trump Budget
Alabama
WBRC Birmingham: President Trump's Budget Proposal Could Strain Healthcare Providers
Alabama hospitals are concerned about a new proposed federal budget. President Donald Trump is proposing a cut of $800 billion out of Medicaid over the next ten years. It's a part of the president's $4.1 trillion budget for 2018. Many hospitals in Alabama take in Medicaid patients for care. Cutting those funds will put additional strain on those healthcare providers. ‘Cuts in Medicaid, cuts in services means you potentially have more uninsured patients going to these hospitals. Uncompensated care that already affects their ability on razor thins margins,’ Danne Howard with the Alabama Hospital Association said.”
Alaska
“President Donald Trump's proposed budget would eliminate huge swaths of federal spending in Alaska, from water infrastructure grants to college tuition assistance…The funding that would be lost to Alaskans if the Trump budget were enacted is broad in category and high in cost.”
Arkansas
Arkansas Online: Budget Cuts Alarm Advocates For Poor
“President Donald Trump's proposed budget threatens to destroy the safety net that many Arkansans rely on, anti-poverty advocates said Tuesday. They expressed concern about the sharp cuts the budget would make in several social programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, referred to colloquially as food stamps.”
Arizona
KPNX: Arizona Could Lose Jobs With Trump Medicaid Cuts
“The biggest losers in President Donald Trump's proposed budget are the one in four needy Arizonans who get health insurance through Medicaid. An Arizona State University economics professor says those cuts would have a ripple effect on Arizona's health care industry, the state's largest.”
California
Sacramento Bee: California Takes Many Hits, Large And Small, In Trump’s 2018 Budget Proposal
“California loses big time in President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2018 budget, made public to scathing political reviews Tuesday. Some Central Valley farm spending would fall. Nutrition programs would shrink. Certain school grants would be handcuffed, University of California research would be curtailed and reimbursements ended for the state’s incarceration of law-breaking unauthorized immigrants.”
Colorado
Denver Business Journal: Trump Budget Impact: Colorado Housing Programs On Chopping Block
“The $4.1 trillion 2018 budget proposal released by President Donald Trump's administration Tuesday boosts funding for the military and border security while maintaining funding for Social Security and Medicare, but suggests among its various cuts to social programs the elimination of two programs that Colorado housing advocates say are ‘critical’ to the state's efforts to combat the deepening affordable housing crisis here. The proposal includes the elimination the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program. Both programs are used to bolster housing assistance programs across the country, but the administration argues that state and local governments are better equipped to react to market forces and individual needs in cities and towns than the federal government.”
Connecticut
CT Mirror: Trump Budget: CT Health, Education, Research Hit — Defense A Mixed Bag
“President Donald Trump’s budget would require Connecticut to drop residents from key social and health programs in the state, and make tough decisions on how to handle other proposed federal cuts to education, housing and the environment. The president’s $4.1 trillion budget for 2018, unveiled Tuesday, would cut at least 20 percent from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which in Connecticut is part of HUSKY Health.”
Delaware
Delaware 105.9FM: Federal Funding For Sussex County Threatened Under Pres. Trump's Budget Proposal
“Billions in federal funding, part of which would and has been used in Sussex County, would be eliminated under President Trump's current budget proposal. Community Development and Block Grants (CDGB) help communities to develop projects that meet unique housing, infrastructure, and economic development needs, supporting job creation. The bill allocating money provided $3 billion for this past fiscal year, but under Pres. Trump's budget proposal the funding for Fiscal Year 2018 would be zeroed out.”
Florida
Miami Herald: Trump Wants To Cut Transit Money Needed For Miami-Dade’s SMART Plan
“Miami-Dade’s dream of an expanded rail system may need to detour around the Trump administration’s budgetary wishes. President Donald Trump’s proposed $4.1 trillion 2018 budget strips about $1 billion from the federal government’s New Starts grant program, the main funding target for Miami-Dade’s ‘SMART’ plan to extend rail countywide. Miami-Dade says it needs at least $900 million from Washington to even consider fully implementing the plan, based on a construction tab of $3.6 billion.”
Georgia
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Would Be Vulnerable If Feds Made Deep Cuts
“While President Donald Trump’s budget plan is unlikely to gain approval, any cutbacks in Washington could have a major impact on services in Georgia. … Cuts to nonmilitary spending, however, could be big for the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for universities that receive tens of millions of dollars in federal research grants, and for state government, which receives about 29 percent of its funding from the federal government for everything from school lunches and nursing home residents to workforce training and environmental protection. Georgia is also home to about 70,000 federal jobs, and some of those could be at risk.”
Hawaii
Hawaii Tribune-Herald: Trump’s Fiscal Plan Draws Widespread Criticism In Hawaii
“Hawaii Island’s low-income, elderly population could be hit particularly hard under President Donald Trump’s budget proposal, which would deeply cut a federal food assistance program throughout the next decade as well as other “safety net” programs for low-income people. That’s according to island-based assistance programs that administer services for seniors and low-income residents.”
Idaho
The Spokesman-Review: Analysis: Idaho State Budget Could Take Big Hits Under Trump Proposal
“In Idaho, the Trump budget proposal unveiled today, if enacted, would mean big hits to the state budget, from health care to education, according to an analysis by the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy. Lauren Necochea, director of the center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that analyzes state fiscal issues, said, ‘This proposed budget includes historically unprecedented cost shifts to the states and unprecedented cuts to essential public services that working Idahoans rely on to make ends meet. The tax cuts for the wealthy come at a huge cost to children, seniors, Idahoans with disabilities, and community investments that benefit all of us.’”
Illinois
Chicago Sun Times: President Trump’s Budget Would Squeeze Illinois
“The fiscal 2018 budget President Donald Trump sent to Congress on Tuesday will not pass as is, with the GOP House and Senate divided over fiscal policies. Still Trump’s cuts, if enacted, would have a major impact on Illinois. So consider Trump’s proposed spending plan a blueprint spelling out his governing philosophy with, among other items, slashes in programs that directly help the Illinois poor; the end of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; and cuts in Amtrak subsidies for eight routes running through Chicago.”
Indiana
WRTV Indianapolis: Proposed Medicaid Cuts Could Impact Indiana Schools
“President Trump released his 2018 budget proposal Tuesday, which calls for drastic cuts to health care, among other areas. Central Indiana school districts could also suffer if the $800 billion cut in Medicaid passes, which would leave several special needs children without programs and services.”
Iowa
Iowa Public Radio: Trump's Budget Plan Could End Passenger Flights to Rural Iowa Airports
“Three Iowa airports could lose commercial air service under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget. Airports in Burlington, Fort Dodge and Mason City depend on federal subsidies to provide regular flights to major cities in the Midwest. Trump has proposed eliminating the Essential Air Service program, which makes those flights possible.”
Kansas
KMUW: Benefit Cuts In Trump Budget Could Impact Wichita's Safety Net Programs
“President Trump's proposed 2018 budget was released on Tuesday. It includes cuts to benefit programs including Medicaid, farm subsidies and welfare benefits. The budget includes a $193 billion cut to food stamps over the next decade, a decrease of more than 25 percent. Eligibility and work requirements would also change. Garland Egerton, executive director of Wichita's Inter-Faith Ministries, says it’s still early, but the proposed cutbacks would significantly impact safety net programs. He says even at Inter-Faith’s homeless or low-income shelters, a lot of folks are already working -- often at minimum wage jobs.”
Kentucky
Lexington Herald-Leader: Programs That Help Poor Kentuckians Face Big Cuts Under Trump’s Budget Plan
“Federal spending on programs that help poor people would see significant cuts under the budget President Donald Trump proposed Tuesday. The safety-net cuts and other proposed reductions would fall particularly hard on Eastern Kentucky, where voters supported Trump by an overwhelming margin in the election. The budget would reduce spending for food stamps and housing assistance; cut Medicaid, the health program for poor and disabled people; cut Social Security disability payments; and eliminate funding for heating assistance and a program that provides money for free civil legal help for poor people in Eastern Kentucky.”
Louisiana
WDSU: Louisiana Could See Major Cuts Under Trump's Budget
“Major cuts could be in store for the state of Louisiana under President Trump's proposed budget. Trump's $4.1 trillion budget arrived on Capitol Hill today. Gov. John Bel Edwards said it turns a blind eye to the state of Louisiana. ‘One trillion dollars happens to be cut from social safety net programs,’ WDSU political analyst Dr. Silas Lee said.”
Maine
Portland Press Herald: Trump’s Budget Ax May Fall On Thousands Of Vulnerable Mainers
“President Trump’s budget proposal would affect thousands of Mainers by slashing spending for health and safety net programs, including Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security disability. The budget, which was unveiled Tuesday, came under immediate attack from health advocates. The steep Medicaid reductions would chop $610 billion nationally over 10 years on top of the $880 billion in reductions over the same period in the American Health Care Act. The AHCA, the proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act, passed the House on May 4 and is now pending in the Senate. About 265,000 Mainers have Medicaid, and thousands would be at risk of having their services reduced or eliminated if the cutbacks that Trump proposed are approved. Medicaid funding would be scaled back by nearly 50 percent at the end of the 10 years.”
Maryland
Baltimore Sun: Trump budget lays out deep cuts to safety net programs
“A $4 trillion federal budget proposal expected to be unveiled by the Trump administration Tuesday will call for deep cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps while increasing spending for infrastructure and a paid parental leave program. The budget blueprint, which is certain to face resistance on Capitol Hill, is expected to recommend eliminating federal funding for the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, slashing money for housing grants used heavily in Baltimore and requiring federal workers to contribute more to their retirement savings.”
Massachusetts
Worcester Telegram: Strong Massachusetts Backlash To Trump’s Budget Proposal
“Deep cuts proposed by President Donald Trump to federal Medicaid and research spending in his $4.1 trillion budget plan drew bipartisan pushback here Tuesday over concern that it could strain thinly stretched state tax dollars and cut off support for the life science and health sectors.”
Michigan
Detroit Free Press: Great Lakes Funding Eliminated Under Trump Budget Plan
“It's official: The Trump administration's budget priorities do not include the Great Lakes. The administration's budget proposal, released Tuesday by the White House's Office of Management and Budget, zeroes out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which since 2010 has provided more than $2.2 billion for programs to improve and protect the lakes.”
Minnesota
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Trump's $4.1 Trillion Budget Would Slash Aid To Minnesotans
“President Trump’s $4.1 trillion federal budget proposal, released Tuesday, would vastly reshape the federal government’s funding of health care, food stamps, and an array of programs that aid hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans. The proposal also excludes further federal funding for the $1.9 billion Southwest Light Rail Transit project, by only paying for transit projects that already have a ‘Full Funding Grant Agreement’ in place with the federal government. The Southwest project does not.”
Mississippi
WTOK (MS): President's proposed budget cuts could directly impact locals.
“President Trump's proposed budget cuts could impact millions of Americans, including people here in Meridian…The proposed budget could impact groups that help people in need like the Jubilee Mennonite Church, which opens their doors and provides groceries to families every month. ‘Well, this just helps people get it to the end of the month so to speak, and we don't give them enough groceries to live on for the whole month but enough to at least be a help.’”
Missouri
KMOX: President’s Budget Could Hurt Missouri Welfare Programs
“A watchdog of Missouri’s budget is warning that President Trump’s spending plan would hurt Missourians and the state as a whole. The Missouri Budget Project’s Traci Gleason warns that proposed domestic spending cuts would be especially harmful to Missouri, which uses federal money for over 37 percent of its general revenue. Among the casualties, Gleason says, programs that help people find work and climb out of poverty.”
Montana
Missoula Missoulian: Trump budget plan would increase burden on Montana food banks
“President Donald Trump released his proposed budget Tuesday, which includes major cuts for federal welfare programs that support low-income Montanans. The budget seeks to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding (more commonly known as food stamps) by $192 billion over the next decade. In Montana, about 122,000 people benefit from the federally funded SNAP program. If realized, Trump’s budget would shift the burden of funding SNAP to states. ‘The impact of that would be absolutely devastating,’ said Lorianne Burhop, chief policy officer for the Montana Food Bank Network.”
Nebraska
“Tony Jesina normally worries about extreme weather events like widespread hailstorms, droughts or flooding that threaten the livelihoods of farmers who buy crop insurance policies from his agents. Given the partisan rancor that typifies American politics today, Jesina now has a new worry: a possible $29 billion worth of cuts to federal crop insurance programs in the next decade. Jesina and farm industry professionals and trade groups on Tuesday issued stern warnings against President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget that aims to slash by 36 percent a critical ‘safety net’ for U.S. farmers and ranchers. … ‘From the perspective of the customer and as a company, these cuts are going to be pretty damaging’ if they’re successful, said Jesina, who is senior vice president for services including crop insurance at Omaha-based Farm Credit Services of America.”
Nevada
Nevada Appeal: Trump’s budget draws fire from Nevada delegation
“President Donald Trump's proposed budget drew sharp criticism on Tuesday not only from Democrats in the Nevada congressional delegation but Republicans Sen. Dean Heller and Gov. Brian Sandoval. Heller said the budget is ‘anti Nevada.’ He said it contains $120 million to restart licensing for the Yucca Mountain waste dump while gutting the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act and deep cuts to Medicaid that could jeopardize health care coverage for several hundred thousand Nevadans. Sandoval said he intends to protect Medicaid funding ‘at all cost.’”
New Hampshire
“The program that helps thousands of low-income Granite Staters heat their homes is still open for this year, but it could be cut altogether from the federal budget. President Trump’s budget request proposes eliminating the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is helping 27,837 New Hampshire households.”
New Jersey
NJ.com: Trump's budget slams N.J. more than most states on Medicaid
“President Donald Trump's proposed federal budget embraces the House Republicans' already-approved reductions to Medicaid, a cut that hurts New Jersey more than any other state. Trump's $4.1 trillion spending plan for the 12 months beginning Oct. 1, to be released Tuesday, broke a campaign promise and included $839 billion in reductions that House Republicans made to the federal-state program for the poor, those with disabilities, and the elderly.”
New Mexico
New Mexico Political Report: Trump budget’s Medicaid, SNAP cuts would have big impact on NM
“Large cuts to safety-net programs will have a large impact on New Mexico, which is near the top of the nation in those on Medicaid and who receive food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Over the next ten years, the proposed Trump budget would cut Medicaid spending by $610 billion and SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, by $193 billion. These cuts would come in addition to those from the American Health Care Act. The president has also proposed reducing the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, by $5.8 billion over ten years.”
New York
Buffalo News: Trump's Slashing Of Safety Net Bodes Ill For Buffalo's Poor.
“Gayle Meyers doesn't fit the stereotype of a poor person, but the developmentally disabled woman from Buffalo has lived for years on Social Security disability payments, with Medicaid to take care of her health needs. In other words, she's lived her adult life with the aid of programs that President Trump's fiscal 2018 budget, released Tuesday, would cut. ‘I would not be happy at all’ in the unlikely event that Trump's budget cuts make their way through Congress, said Meyers, 65. She is not alone. Trump's budget, released in full detail, proposes unprecedented cuts in the social safety net that would likely prove especially costly in cities such as Buffalo, which for years has ranked among the nation's 10 poorest large cities.”
North Carolina
Winston-Salem Journal: Analysts: Trump Budget Proposal Could Alienate Core Supporters
“The Trump administration’s first budget proposal runs the risk of alienating many of his core constituents, including in North Carolina, through proposed major cuts to Medicaid and other federal safety-net programs, economists and analysts said Tuesday.”
North Dakota
KFYRTV: Trump budget could cost North Dakota environmental programs millions
“President Donald Trump's proposed budget plan calls for huge cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency. Those reductions could have a major impact here in North Dakota. The Environmental Health Section of the Department of Health, which is funded with about half federal money, could lose $6 to $8 million. Section Chief Dave Glatt says cuts to the clean air, clean water and hazardous waste management programs could hamstring the state's ability to implement federal programs.”
Ohio
“From eliminating the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to cutting food stamps, the budget proposal that President Donald Trump unveiled on Tuesday contains something to upset nearly everyone. Trump's 2018 budgetary wish-list would slice the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative from $300 million to zero. It cuts the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program - or food stamps - by more than $190 billion over ten years, and seeks to shift some of the costs of food stamps to states. It asks families who get Section 8 housing vouchers to pay more of their own money for rent. And it cuts money for medical research, which, like these other programs, plays a role in the lifeblood of Northeast Ohio.”
Oklahoma
A local healthcare leader is responding after President Donald Trump proposed cutting billions of dollars in food and medical help as part of his first budget. Former Tulsa mayor Susan Savage leads the Morton Health Center. She says the proposed trillion dollars in Medicaid cuts over 10 years would only further hurt the Sooner State. ‘The proposed budget appears to be punitive, appears to target groups of people who can’t lobby on their own behalf,’ Savage said.”
Oregon
The Oregonian: Trump Proposes Selling Northwest's Transmission Grid
“Buried among the revenue-generating ideas in President Donald Trump's new budget proposal is a plan to sell off publicly owned transmission assets, including those operated by the Bonneville Power Administration. For public power companies – and really all utilities in the Northwest – the proposal will ring alarm bells and resurrect a debate about the control of assets that were built with federal dollars but paid for by local ratepayers.”
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Inquirer: Trump's proposed budget cuts stirring alarm
“Health-care advocates predicted devastating consequences for the elderly — and their caregivers, often adult children — as they awaited a budget proposal from President Trump that’s expected to slash billions of dollars in aid to health and social-service programs. Pennsylvania in particular could be forced to cut services as changes in Medicaid reimbursement create ever-larger deficits in future years, they said.”
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Public Radio: RI Delegation Blasts Trump Budget Proposal
“Irresponsible, immoral and reckless. Those are just a few of the terms Rhode Island’s congressional delegation is using to criticize President Donald Trump’s budget proposal. The budget would reduce funding for social service programs including Medicaid, food stamps and education, while increasing military spending.”
South Carolina
Aiken Standard: Trump budget terminates funding for Aiken County MOX project
“Funding for the Savannah River Site MOX facility would vanish under President Donald Trump's 2018 budget request, drawing criticism from fellow Republican lawmakers.”
South Dakota
Argus Leader: What Trump's budget would mean for South Dakota
“South Dakota farmers and food stamp users, sick children and college students would all take a hit under a budget plan announced Tuesday by the White House. A budget proposal from President Donald Trump would slash into Medicaid and welfare programs and end billions of dollars in farm subsidies. Observers say the plan could be dead on arrival, but it could influence discussions in Congress, which is scheduled to begin crafting its own spending plan next month.”
Tennessee
NewsChannel9: President's proposed budget could impact local nursing homes
“To keep a family member at the Life Care Center in Red Bank is a pricey option. ‘If you opted for a private room, that would be $318 a day,’ said Executive Director Sherry Broom. She isn't happy to hear that President Donald Trump is proposing to cut funding to Medicaid programs. The money from those programs helps many of her patients. ‘I personally have that strong, ethical commitment to caring for others,’ she said. ‘Its a blessing for me to be able to do that, and for someone to diminish our ability to do that, I take that personally.’”
Texas
Spectrum News: Trump's Budget Proposal Slashes Medicaid, Anti-Poverty Programs
“Despite his campaign promises, cuts to Medicaid are included in President Trump’s blueprint for a federal budget.”
Utah
Salt Lake Tribune: Trump Budget Slashes Money For Federal Lands, Needy And Health Care
“President Donald Trump's proposed 2018 fiscal budget would hit Utah's needy and disabled, cut block grants to communities, slash funding for public lands and public transit projects and could hurt rural airport services. The budget, which Congress is unlikely to take up but reveals White House spending priorities, seeks cuts in most departments' spending, some deeply, including decreases in social services and other government programs that would affect a broad swath of Americans.”
Vermont
Rutland Herald: Officials say Vermonters in need will get hit hard
“President Donald Trump’s budget would be a catastrophe for low-income Vermonters, according to the people in charge of working with them. Heads of social service agencies around the state offered uniformly negative appraisals Tuesday. The most optimistic comments were the ones saying the budget was unlikely to pass.”
Virginia
Staunton News-Leader: Trump budget proposal would hit Virginians hard, Kaine says
“President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal spells trouble for many ‘critical programs’ vital to Virginia's families, children, seniors and businesses, according to U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. … Kaine also pinpointed the cuts to Medicaid, student loan programs, the Social Security Disability Insurance program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helped feed 826,000 Virginia residents in 2016, as areas where Virginians could be hurt. Virginia environmental program funding would also take a nosedive under Trump's plan, which proposes eliminating the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural water and wastewater loan and grant program, which helps finance water infrastructure in small rural Virginia communities, and the Appalachian Regional Commission.”
Washington
Seattle Times: Trump Wants To Cut $120 Million For Hanford In Budget Proposal Despite Incidents
“President Donald Trump’s proposed budget includes a cut of about $120 million for the Hanford nuclear reservation, despite two recent incidents that raised concern about worker safety at the former nuclear-weapons production site.”
West Virginia
Charleston Gazette-Mail: Trump Wants To Slash Financial Assistance Frequently Used In WV
“West Virginia has the highest disability rate and one of the highest poverty rates in the country. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, made public Tuesday, would slash billions in funding meant to assist people who struggle to get by, while cutting business taxes and increasing spending on defense, immigrant deportations and border security, including $1.6 billion for a border wall the president once promised Mexico would finance and anti-immigrant groups say isn’t enough to pay for it.”
Wisconsin
“President Donald Trump’s forthcoming budget plan to cut Medicaid spending by more than $800 billion would badly hurt Wisconsin’s ability to care for the very poor, disabled and elderly residents served by the program, local advocates said Monday. … Wisconsin advocacy groups said Monday that it’s too soon to know how the cuts would affect enrollment levels or specific services provided to Medicaid enrollees. About 1.2 million Wisconsinites currently participate in Medicaid-funded programs, which include BadgerCare and SeniorCare.”
Wyoming
Wyoming Business Report: Trump budget: Threat to Wyoming skies?
“Nationwide, rural air service is subsidized with federal funds—Wyoming included. But that funding is on the chopping block.”
