Slashing government waste and improving efficiencies are always laudable goals. Investing in the military and supporting our veterans is the obligation of the federal government. I support these concepts in the federal budget proposed by President Trump, but that is where my support ends.
Many of the suggested cuts are short-sighted and could result in weakening the most vulnerable Americans. These programs are not wasteful, but rather vital to a community’s health, prosperity and economic growth. Many of my former constituents in Ohio rely on these federally-funded and state-administered programs.
Here are just a few examples of program eliminations and cuts that, if absent, would change the communities I represented (and those like them) for the worse, not the better.
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Eliminating the USDA Water and Wastewater grant and loan program would take away a meaningful tool from rural communities to expand water and sewer infrastructure. Such investments are critical to attracting economic investment, and frankly help provide access to the basic needs of drinking water and flushing toilets. Without these USDA grants and loans, people in places like Austinburg and Kinsman, Ohio would not be able to do just that. Both communities received assistance for such infrastructure projects from USDA.
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Two of the three counties I represented in the Ohio Senate were designated as Appalachia. Getting rid of the Appalachian Regional Commission will be devastating to communities in coal country that are able to get funding for such purposes as telecom infrastructure and education geared towards distressed communities.
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Reducing the Women, Infants, and Children food and nutrition program could lead to an increase in the already-abysmal infant mortality rate in many states.
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Manufacturing extension cuts will hurt communities in the industrial midwest like mine that are trying to rebuild their industrial base.
- Cuts to summer and after-school programs will disproportionately hurt at-risk youth in urban and rural areas. Many times these kids, in places like urban Warren, Ohio, or the rural Grand Valley Local School District in Ashtabula County, Ohio, have no other option for educational, recreation or nutrition assistance. Eliminating these programs will set back the exact group of children we need to empower to grow up, become productive members of society, and end the cycle of poverty.
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Eliminating programs like home weatherization and heating assistance creates an unstable living environment for low-income families. Living in a freezing house certainly does not create an environment conducive to seeking and keeping gainful employment.
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Taking away grants for community development financial institutions will increase the presence of predatory lenders like payday lenders in areas where low-income people should be helped to learn financial literacy, build credit and save money.
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Small communities rely on Community Development Block Grants to improve the quality of life and mitigate blight. This would be a huge hit to Rust Belt cities and towns.
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Reductions to Meals On Wheels and the senior employment program will hurt the poorest and most-vulnerable seniors.
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Cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development will result in a housing crisis for seniors and the disabled that don’t really have other options than to seek assistance for affordable housing options.
In short, many of these cuts will hurt the exact people that voted for Trump, and in the process, make struggling communities less able to reclaim economic vitality. Certainly not a way to Make American Great Again.
Capri Cafaro (@thehonorablecsc) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a former member of the Ohio State Senate, where she was the Senate minority leader. She is now an Executive in Residence at American University’s School of Public Affairs.
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