These Cuts Are Damaging
Americans have a strange relationship with their federal government. They claim they get nothing from the government, that they worked for everything they’ve got, and that government benefits – and government jobs are bad.
The simple fact is, there is not a person in America who does not depend on – and take for granted – the efficient functioning of the federal government. The federal government: subsidizes your house purchase; builds roads, bridges, lakes, canals, and other elements of the infrastructure (including the Internet); keeps airplanes flying safely; provides accurate weather forecasts and warnings of disasters; provides healthcare to veterans, seniors, and many others; researches new medical cures; makes sure nuclear weapons and materials stay safe; makes sure our air, water, and food are safe; helps protect and recover from natural disasters; and more.
And while complaints come loudest from the middle class and from Red State politicians, they are precisely the groups that benefit most from government assistance. For example, 75% of federal subsidies for housing (home interest deduction, federally insured loans) goes to the affluent. And while housing subsidies are widely derided as “handouts,” nobody is talking about taking away this rich-person subsidy.
Regardless of what many MAGA sycophants claim, the funding and staff cuts are doing serious damage.
First, thy are wrecking many essential services. It is simply a fact that you cannot fire half the staff and expect to get the same services. The person who said, “It won’t matter that we eliminated DOE; all the essential projects will be picked up somewhere else” was lying. The SBA already has a mission and its ability to do that job is being undercut by meat-ax cuts. They will NOT take on the new job of administering Pell Grants.
Despite what those two notorious liars Donald Trump and Elon Musk told you about a couple AID grants, it is beyond debate that AID helps prevent starvation and deadly disease. For example, George W. Bush’s PEPFAR program was credited with saving millions of lives. When the Trump team shut AID down, they shut those benign projects down too.
Second, while the mass firings are almost all illegal and many will possibly be rescinded, the damage is done. Yes, people are reinstated with back pay, but often there is not a place for them to work, they have no access to a work station, and their grants and contracts are on hold.
You don’t have to strip a penny from the social security budget to wreck social security. Just mess with their antiquated computer systems, fire half the staff, close offices, and make application and appeal processes more labor intensive. All these destructive actions are underway.
Or say that your child is eligible for a Pell Grant or for student debt relief for public service. Except there is nobody to review the application.
Some of the cuts are incomprehensible. For decades, Radio Free Europe was the Republicans’ favorite program. Who’s happy we shut them down? Vladimir Putin.
Or who’s happy Trump ended the recently imposed limits on bank late fees? Who wants you to pay more for late fees? Donald Trump does.
Who’s happy that shut-in seniors home-delivered meals will be cut back? Or a weatherization program that reduces energy use and poor peoples’ utility bills has been eliminated?
Our aging population is already suffering epidemics of diabetes and Alzheimers. As the baby boomers age, these only get worse. With 20,000 job cuts at HHS and a science-denying Secretary, the research to cure these diseases was all but terminated.
Hospitals are particularly vulnerable. They are also financially dependent. Ninety-six percent of hospitals have 50% of their inpatient days paid by Medicare and Medicaid. Cuts to these two programs will not just wreck the healthcare of seniors: it will destroy our healthcare system.
Farmers are also vulnerable. Their labor force is threatened by harsh immigration policies. Foreign markets have been decimated by tariffs, anti-American sentiment, and elimination of foreign food aid. While many MAGA supporters consider SNAP funding or funding for food banks to be a waste, feeding poor people is not the only thing those programs do; they also put money in farmers’ pockets.
As the number and severity of natural disasters continue to grow rapidly, FEMA staff cuts and the DHS secretary’s promise to abolish FEMA promise weaker disaster responses than in the past. The elimination of classes at Emmitsburg’s National Fire Academy will be one serious local impact.
While MAGA people trade anecdotes about so-called wasteful programs and chuckle that trillions can be eliminated just by ending this wasteful spending, the sad reality is, these cuts will be devastating.
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Leon Reed and Jeff Colvin are the Co-Chairs of Gettysburg DFA. Leon is a retired U.S. Senate aide and history teacher, and Jeff is a semi-retired research physicist. Both live in Gettysburg.