The Trump Budget is a Disaster for Virginia. Here are 12 Reasons We All Need to Fight It.

Yesterday, Donald Trump released his 2018 budget. If this budget passes, it will be a colossal blow to Virginia families. It doesn’t just eliminate programs that provide services; it breaks long-standing promises to our citizens. Health care, education, environmental protection — all are subject to draconian cuts so that President Trump can give wealthy people like him tax cuts they don’t need and build a border wall we don’t want. I’m going to do everything I can to stop this. But if you’re reading this, take action. Call your representatives in Congress and flood the phone lines with stories of how these cuts would hurt Virginians.

1. Trump’s budget dramatically cuts access to health care, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House Republicans this month ends the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion and also radically restructures the program through block grants to states so that funding amounts decline over time. The Trump budget not only assumes this will become law, it takes it a step further and proposes other significant cuts to Medicaid, as well as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The end result is a more than $1.49 trillion cut to Medicaid that could eliminate coverage for more than 10 million people. In Virginia, where Democrats have been fighting hard to expand Medicaid for 400,000 Virginians, the Trump budget would shut this door. A significant number of the nearly one million Virginians currently enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, including almost half a million children, may also face elimination of their health care coverage.

2. Trump’s budget especially hurts women and children.

The Trump budget specifically excludes Planned Parenthood from the entire federal budget — for the first time ever. It bans Planned Parenthood from participating in any federal programs, like CDC cancer screenings, Zika virus prevention, HIV/AIDS screening, and Violence Against Women Act funding for sexual violence prevention. The budget also cuts over $1 billion from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children and $8 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, programs women rely on to feed themselves and their children.

3. Trump’s budget ignores climate change and cuts common sense environmental protection programs.

Trump’s proposed budget would have a profoundly negative impact on our environment — cutting the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 31 percent. These reductions impact vital programs on which Virginia depends, including a 37 percent cut to the EPA Superfund program, which supports clean up of toxic industrial sites like abandoned coal mines and ports, as well as a near-elimination of federal restoration programs for the Chesapeake Bay.

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researching climate change impacts on coastal areas would see $313 million in cuts to programs that support coastal communities battling rising sea levels like the Tidewater region here in Virginia. Climate change is an existential threat to the Commonwealth. At a time when rising sea levels are already damaging Virginia’s economy, we can’t afford cuts that ignore this issue.

The Trump budget also includes a 56 percent cut to the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy office, which has used grants, research, and other programs to drastically reduce the costs of solar energy in the U.S. (among other clean energy technologies). This could cripple Virginia’s growing solar industry.

4. This budget breaks Trump’s promise not to touch Social Security.

After promising not to touch Social Security during his campaign, this budget targets the program as part of its $1.7 trillion in cuts for mandatory domestic programs. Although current retirees are not impacted, the Trump Administration heartlessly goes after Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income for $72 billion, which provides compensation to people who can no longer participate in the workforce due to a disability, as well as poor disabled and elderly individuals. We must protect our country’s obligation to Social Security and the more than 240,000 Virginians who depend on the disability program.

5. It guts public education programs to pay for failed voucher experiments.

The budget cuts more than $9 billion in education funds. Virginia receives hundreds of millions of dollars annually towards its education budget from the federal government. Since 2009, Virginia’s schools have been shortchanged by $800 million. As a result, we lag behind other states in teacher pay competitiveness, and our public schools have seen rising levels of inequality. Without federal funding, our schools will see dramatic budgets cuts that will result in teacher layoffs and decreased student achievement.

6. It slashes substance abuse prevention programs while the opioid epidemic worsens.

The Trump budget slashes substance abuse prevention programs 32 percent. Addiction to opioids and prescription painkillers is an epidemic ravaging our Commonwealth. More Virginians now die from opioid overdoses than car accidents. In 2016, there were more than 1,400 drug-related deaths in Virginia — a 38 percent increase from 2015.

Treating those already suffering from addiction is essential, but stopping the spread of opioid dependence requires universal access to mental health and other essential health care services. As the disease of addiction spreads, it’s essential that we expand — not axe — access to substance abuse and mental health treatment services.

7. This budget demoralizes our federal workforce and breaks promises to federal retirees.

The Trump budget takes away from our federal workforce by reducing retirement benefits. Our federal workers have already been asked to contribute their fair share to deficit reduction, and it’s time that we incentivize rather than penalize civil service work. With the proposed budget, the average federal worker will lose $5,000 a year in take-home pay, and the combined workforce would lose out on $63 billion in retirement and health benefits. We’re proud that more than 135,000 federal workers call Virginia home. These cuts will hurt our economy in the short-term with less income and retirement funds available for current federal workers and retirees to spend. The pain caused by these cuts is compounded by the potential elimination of several agencies with offices in Virginia. The cuts also carry long-term implications by making joining the federal workforce a less competitive choice. As Gerry Connolly has said, “cuts of this magnitude will make it impossible to recruit and retain the qualified workforce we need to meet our nation’s challenges.”

8. It raises the cost of higher education and makes it more difficult to pay student debt.

The Trump administration threatens to cut essential programs that students rely on to attend college and pay down student debt. The administration’s proposals would eliminate the $700 million Perkins loan program, cut $24 million from the federal work-study program (which would reduce it by almost half), and end a program that prevents interest on loans from accruing while students remain in school. The administration’s budget also eviscerates public service loan forgiveness, which currently allows civil servants, teachers, and nonprofit employees to earn federal loan forgiveness after a 10-year period. In Virginia, the average borrower leaves school with nearly $30,000 in debt. These changes at the federal level would make it likely that student debt loads increase in our Commonwealth and limit the opportunities for graduates to pay down their debt.

9. It hurts Southwest Virginia by eliminating the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and cutting economic development programs.

Trump’s budget eliminates the ARC, which has been in existence since the Kennedy Administration. For decades, the ARC has supported targeted economic development projects in 25 Western and Southwestern Virginia counties. In just the 16 months preceding Donald Trump’s inauguration, the ARC supported 38 projects in Virginia totaling $17 million and creating or retaining nearly 1,350 jobs.

10. It hurts seniors by cutting funding for community development block grants (CDBGs) that support organizations like Meals on Wheels.

Trump’s budget would zero out CDBGs. CDBGs are vital lifelines for community organizations like Meals on Wheels, which delivers nutritious meals to seniors that can’t afford them. Cutting this program, which supported 25,000 Virginia seniors last year, will mean fewer meals for seniors who are unable to leave their home.

11. It raises electricity prices by cutting the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

The Trump budget completely eliminates LIHEAP, which provides $3 billion in heating assistance to the poor. Older adults and young children are very susceptible to extreme temperatures, and high utility bills make maintaining a safe indoor climate very difficult in low-income homes.

Low-income families in Virginia already struggle to pay their utility bills and depend on subsidy programs like LIHEAP to stay safe. Particularly since the Republican-controlled General Assembly granted Dominion Power’s 2015 request to freeze its base rate for 5 years — suspending state regulators’ oversight over Dominion’s profits — Dominion has been making excessive profits at the expense of Virginians. Eliminating LIHEAP will only pile on to the struggles of low income communities across our Commonwealth.

12. It hurts rural areas by cutting investments in community development.

Trump’s budget cuts $48 billion over 10 years from agriculture support. The proposed cuts include elimination of the Rural Economic Development Program, which helps rural utilities and rural businesses. Virginia’s rural communities receive $1.2 billion in grants and loans from the Department of Agriculture each year. These budget cuts squarely target smaller rural communities in Virginia that have no other way to make these investments. In addition, the budget severely reduces support for long-distance Amtrak routes by $630 million. This would decrease service to small towns all across the Commonwealth and potentially eliminate service to Danville.