Trump’s mean 2021 budget sticks it to Ohio public schools, Lordstown, seniors, people with low incomes and more
Posted February 10, 2020 in Press Releases
The Trump Administration released its proposed budget for 2021. The plan would increase poverty and inequality, take away health coverage and essential antipoverty services and cut funding for other core public programs and investments. Policy Matters Ohio Senior Project Director Wendy Patton released the following statement:
“A budget proposal clarifies a president’s vision for the country. Trump’s vision is not shared by most Ohioans. We know communities need excellent public schools, great health care, and thriving industries that pay good wages. This budget plan, like President Trump’s former proposals, would impose deep cuts to education, health and human services and other essential services.
“The 2021 Trump budget would cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits over 10 years. It would change Medicaid’s financing structure, limiting the ability of Ohio and other states to respond to recession, natural disaster or public health emergency.
“It weakens America’s public school systems with a $50 billion, 10-year program for private schools, paid for in part by cuts to many programs in the Department of Education, including the elimination of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program which provides $43 million for extra-curricular, enrichment and after-school programs across Ohio.
“President Trump also wants to cut funding for economic development and natural resources programs. He would eliminate the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, from which the Lordstown Motors Corporation has requested $200 million to re-open the closed auto assembly plant in Youngstown. The Trump budget would eliminate the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, including $12.6 million in federal funds in the current state budget for services to Ohio manufacturing companies. It ends the Coastal Zone Management Assistance Grant, which provides more than $5 million in Ohio’s budget.
“Over 10 years, the Trump budget will cut federal food aid by $180 billion. This year 20,000 Ohioans - non-disabled adults without children - will lose federal food aid as the Trump administration expands time limits in places with very slow economies, where finding work is hard. The new Trump Administration budget would impose these time limits on parents as well. Over time, Trump would also reduce programs for school breakfast and lunch.
“The President’s proposal would reduce funding for affordable housing, even as homelessness increases in Ohio. It cuts HUD programs by $8.6 billion (15.2%) which would make it hard for local housing agencies to maintain hundreds of thousands of units of affordable housing. Today just one out of every four eligible people get any housing assistance from the federal government; the majority of those are seniors, people with disabilities or parents with children.
“As in prior proposals, the new Trump Budget would eliminate the Social Services Block Grant, a backbone of Ohio’s county-based social service programming that funds protective services for elderly people, child welfare services and other critical functions.
“The president wants to permanently extend the 2017 tax law’s cuts for individuals, including the large tax cuts for high-income filers, even as it proposes cuts in health care and basic assistance for those of limited means. It will deepen income disparities and widen inequality across racial and ethnic lines.
“This budget is a roadmap for a bleaker future for thousands of families and millions of people across Ohio.
Download statementon2021trumptaxbudget.pdf