Trump Budget Proposal Threatens Needed Investments in Western Maryland

The President’s budget calls for deep cuts to federal services that support Maryland’s economy and the economy of Western Maryland in particular. These cuts will fall especially hard on the very people the president has pledged to help—those in distressed rural and urban communities who have been left behind by our economy.

If the Trump administration’s budget is enacted, schools in Western Maryland will have fewer of the resources they need to give children a first-rate education.

Table 1. FY 2018 K-12 Education Cuts under Trump Budget
  Allegany Garrett Washington Western

MD Total

MD Total
Title I $86,500 $38,200 $190,500 $315,200 $7.7 million
Special Education $23,600 $9,200 $45,600 $78,300 $2.0 million
Supporting Effective Instruction $628,300 $298,200 $754,300 $1.7 million $29.7 million
21st Century Learning Centers $647,200 $0 $0 $647,200 $17.2 million
Career and Technical Education $749 $5,700 $32,800 $39,300 $1.9 million
Total Federal Restricted Funds $1.4 million $351,400 $1.0 million $2.8 million $64.7 million
Note: Bold programs are eliminated. Statewide data from Federal Funds Information for States. Local cuts estimated by applying statewide percent reductions to FY 2017 school district budget data.

 

College will be less accessible and people who borrow to invest in their future will have a harder time keeping up with payments.

  • Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants are eliminated, for a statewide cut of $9.9 million.[i]
  • Federal work-study is reduced by 50 percent, for a cut of $7.5 million.
  • The maximum annual Pell Grant award is flat funded, which translates into a reduction in real resources at a time when college is increasingly unaffordable.
  • Help is badly needed in Western Maryland, where student borrowers are at greater risk of falling behind on their payments (see map below).

The budget would decrease the amount of help available for workers who want to upgrade their skills and find good jobs with opportunities for advancement. It would also sharply reduce federal support for economic development in Western Maryland.

  • The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funds local providers that connect people to job training opportunities with the goal of getting people industry-recognized credentials that lead to a career with advancement opportunities.
  • The administration budget cuts WIOA services by 40 percent, costing Maryland $23 million statewide.
  • The budget eliminates the Appalachian Regional Commission, which provides $20 million per year for infrastructure and economic development in Western Maryland, and ends Essential Air Service support to Hagerstown Regional Airport.

The Trump budget and the health care repeal bill being debated in Congress would jeopardize Western Marylanders’ access to health care and food.

  • Under the health care repeal bill passed by the Senate, 227,000 Maryland residents would lose their health insurance, including tens of thousands in Congressional District 6.[i]
  • The Trump budget cuts Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars over ten years, above and beyond the cuts in the House and Senate health bills. More than 95,000 people in Maryland Congressional District 6 rely on Medicaid, including 59,600 in Western Maryland.
  • The Trump budget shifts 25 percent of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program onto the states, which would likely force them to cut benefits. If implemented today, this cost shift would cost Maryland $276 million.[ii] In Congressional District 6, 29,800 households use SNAP to put food on the table.[iii]

 

Table 2. Western Maryland Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP Enrollment
  Allegany Garrett Washington Western MD Total MD Total
Medicaid and CHIP (Persons) 17,800 9,200 32,600 59,600 1.3 million
SNAP (Households) 5,700 1,700 9,100 16,500 243,000
Note: SNAP and county-level Medicaid data from MDCEP analysis of 2015 American Community Survey. Statewide Medicaid data from CMS enrollment report.

 

[i] All data from Federal Funds Information for States except where otherwise noted.

[i] Statewide estimate by the Center for American Progress. An earlier CAP analysis of the House bill found that 32,600 residents of District 6 would lose coverage under the House bill. The Senate bill would modestly reduce that number. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/news/2017/06/27/435112/coverage-losses-state-senate-health-care-repeal-bill/

[ii] MDCEP analysis of Maryland state budget data.

[iii] 2015 American Community Survey.