Trump plan slashes funding for Detroit, Great Lakes and much more

[demmiblue]

Source: Freep

<snip>

If he succeeds, it will likely have a lasting impact in metro Detroit and across Michigan, as programs — many relied upon by communities for decades — disappear or see funding eviscerated. Among them:

•The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has received $300 million a year in recent years to pay for improving wetlands, reducing pollution and increasing water quality across the Upper Midwest, would be eliminated, according to the plan, a cut even greater than the 97% reduction previously reported on, as the administration “returns the responsibility for funding local environmental efforts … to state and local entities.”

•The Community Development Block Grant program, which since the 1970s has devoted billions to helping improve housing and living conditions in cities, would be eliminated, which could result in Michigan communities losing some $111 million compared to the current year — including $31 million for Detroit. The rest would be spread around the state, including $5 million for Wayne County, $4 million for Oakland County and nearly $2 million for Macomb County. In Detroit, CDBG funds have helped pay for homeless shelters and transportation for seniors as well as defraying costs for rehabilitation projects for housing and some acquisition and demolition costs in the city's fight against blight. The loss of another HUD program would cost state communities $29 million total as the administration “devolves … activities to the state and local level.”

•The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps provide home heating assistance to households, especially those of the disabled, elderly and families with preschool-age children, would be eliminated as would the Community Services Block Grant, through which agencies work to fight poverty. The state said it was on pace to spend nearly $170 million on LIHEAP this year.

•Coastal and marine management grants at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including Sea Grant, would be eliminated. As the Free Press reported last week, Sea Grant includes funding for a joint program between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University that has provided Great Lakes research and advocacy for nearly 50 years.

That’s just skims the surface of what Mulvaney said Wednesday is a budget built around Trump’s campaign promises with reductions “exactly where you would expect it.”

Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/03/16/trump-plan-slashes-funding-detroit-great-lakes-and-much-more/99220434/


How I loathe this creature... he is going to destroy our country.

[nikibatts]

1. Weren't these people out cheering for him yesterday?

[demmiblue]

2. What do you think about the cuts in the budget?

You should read the whole article, because it is not just about Michigan.

[Vinca]

3. In Trump's eyes this is a two-fer. If you make these cuts and can get the lakes to burn

as the Cuyahoga River did, you solve the LIHEAP problem. Seriously, as soon as this maniac is gone we're going to have to rebuild the entire government.

[global1]

4. You Might Loathe Trump But The Repug Party - The Party In Power....

will enable him. You need to loathe the Repug Party as well.

[demmiblue]

5. That's a given. n/t

[bronxiteforever]

6. Trump represents the pinnacle of GOP power

It's disdain for the environment, for people born in difficult circumstances and of a different color-their ethos is to despoil and cause collapse.
Never in the history of the world has such a large Republic fallen into the hands of greedy, ill prepared and ignorant men.