President Trump’s “skinny” budget was presented to Congress only a couple of weeks ago. Rick Hunsaker, Executive Director for Region XII Council of Governments, says the timing of that hitting right before the Carroll Area Development Corporation’s (CADC) Access Washington trip was the focus for him when meeting with staff, elected officials and federal agency and organization leaders. He says the budget threatens to zero out a number of popular community and economic development programs in our region. And though Congress sets the budget, not the President, Hunsaker has concerns that programs will see cuts in funding or be eliminated altogether. Programs like Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) that have been instrumental in expansions for Scranton Manufacturing and Quality Foods in Denison, as well as many other projects.
He says other programs Trump proposes zeroing out are the Home Program that provides down-payment assistance to low income families as well as one that hits very close to home for Region XII, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) program. This funding helps them put staff into the region to assist communities with economic development priorities.
The EDA also supports Region XII’s Revolving Loan Fund, which aids businesses in job creation. Other programs impacted include USDA Rural Development Grants, like those that provided low-interest loans for the building of Manning Regional Healthcare Center’s new facility as well as the expansion at St. Anthony Regional Hospital and for local cooperatives. Hunsaker says that he felt it was imperative to let the legislative leaders know how important these are to our communities.
These cuts would effectively stop an in-flow of needed funding AND they would also hit residents harder in the pocketbook.
While the budget is broken out into segments and reviewed by Congress, Hunsaker says we can expect to see the program cuts and eliminations proposed come into clearer view in the next six to eight months. He adds there is one thing that all of the area citizens can do in the interim to make sure we don’t lose these necessary funding streams.
There is no real expectation that the budget will be set by Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. Hunsaker says there may be some ongoing resolutions funding the programs at their current levels or at reduced rates for the time being.
