The word of the day seems to be “duplicative” as President Trump released a budget that eliminates tons of programs designated to improve low income and minority individuals. What happens if multiple programs exist to help low income persons afford housing or understand business development processes?
Elimination!
Now let’s be clear. There will still be programs in place to help these individuals, just not as many as before. As Mick Mulvaney pointed out, Donald Trump was elected as an America First President. This means money will be distributed from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ($3.4 billion) which helps the elderly and low-income people pay their heating and power bills, to Homeland Security to help build our southern wall (that Mexico will now reimburse us for apparently).
Obviously this is not the final budget, but it is telling in terms of the President’s priorities. Departments such as the Environment Protection Agency will be all but eliminated with 2,600 employees let go most likely before the end of the year and the State Department, which handles our Foreign relationships losing about a billion in support.
It’s hard to tell who is the big winner outside of Defense and Veterans, the later of which deserving every penny, but for other departments including Education, Housing, Energy, Transportation, and more, a long debate will now be made to prove their necessity.
Other Agencies to be eliminated include the following, taken from the USA Today list:
- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ($3.4 billion): LIHEAP helps the elderly and low-income people pay their heating and power bills.
- Community Development Block Grant program ($3 billion): CDBG has been a bread-and-butter funding source for local communities for 42 years, totaling more than $150 billion in grants over its history. “The program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results,” Trump’s budget says.
- Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program ($2.4 billion): The White House says the program is “poorly targeted and spread thinly across thousands of districts with scant evidence of impact.”
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers program ($1.2 billion): The formula grants to states support before- and after-school and summer programs. “The programs lacks strong evidence of meeting its objectives, such as improving student achievement,” the budget says.
- Community Services Block Grants ($715 million): CSBG is an anti-poverty grant program that the White House says duplicates emergency food assistance and employment programs.
- Senior Community Service Employment Program ($434 million): SCSEP is a job training program for low-income people 55 and older that the White House says is “ineffective.”
- Water and Wastewater loan and grant program ($498 million): “Rural communities can be served by private sector financing or other federal investments in rural water infrastructure, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s State Revolving Funds,” the budget says.
- Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ($382 million): This alternative energy research program was established by Congress in 2007 with the goal of funding projects that the private sector would not.
- Economic Development Administration ($221 million): Obama’s 2017 budget touted the agency as ” the only federal government agency with a mission and programs focused exclusively on economic development.” The Trump budget says it has “limited measurable impacts and duplicates other federal programs.”
- Minority Business Development Agency ($32 million): The White House says this minority business incubator program is “duplicative” of other programs in the Small Business Administration.
- Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund ($70 million): The account allows the president to “provide humanitarian assistance for unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs worldwide,” but Trump said the mission is best left to international and non-governmental relief organizations
- African Development Foundation ($26 million): An independent foreign aid agency focusing on economic development in Africa.
- Appalachian Regional Commission ($119 million): A 52-year-old agency focused on economic growth in 420 counties.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services ($231 million): Provides money to the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums.
- U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness ($4 million): An independent agency coordinating the federal government’s efforts to reduce homelessness.
- Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars ($11 million): A program to provide scholarships and fellowships in social sciences and humanities.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/16/what-does-trump-budget-eliminate/99223182/
