Lebanon
Trump unveiled a $1.15 trillion budget proposal on March 16 that calls for large increases in military spending to be offset by billions in cuts to domestic programs. Among those programs that would find themselves with significantly less or even no money, according to The Associate Press, are: the National Endowment for the Arts, legal aid to the poor, heating assistance, the AmeriCorps service program, rural schools, health research, the federal flood insurance program, low-income housing and financial aid for higher education.
If nothing else, the budget proposal delivers a clear message about the Trump administration’s priorities, said Roberta Berner, executive director of the Grafton County Senior Citizens Council.
“We’re trying hard to keep in mind that the president’s budget is a proposal — with a great deal of discussion yet to come between the legislative branches and the executive branch,” Berner said. “We do understand better, though, from the proposed budget just where the executive branch stands regarding non-defense federal programs, including those health and human services programs that serve older adults.”
Among the many social service agencies that would be affected by the cuts is Lebanon-based Twin Pines Housing Trust, a developer and manager of affordable housing.
“We’re obviously concerned about the scale and impact of any budget cuts that the Trump administration is looking at,” said Andrew Winter, executive director of Twin Pines.
The trust provides 390 apartments to low- and moderate-income families in the Twin States. But cuts to federal funding could mean the group could be forced to stop building and renovating units.
“We’ve got a wait-list of 350 households for units, and so the delays in housing projects means that we’re not able to address those needs,” Winter said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
And although it’s Congress that determines the final budget — and lawmakers have indicated it’s unlikely all of the cuts will pass — local organizations are bracing for the worst.
For Winter, for example, there’s the looming possibility of cuts to the Community Development Block Grant program and HOME Investment Partnerships Program. His organization utilizes both to develop new housing units.
Twin Pines currently has 130 new units slated for development in the coming years, Winter said, but cuts to federal funding could stop them from breaking ground.
“The impact to us as an agency could be quite dramatic in that we earn developers’ fees in creating new housing,” he said, adding units aren’t the only thing the organization might have to cut.
Rental assistance might also decrease, meaning there would be fewer people who could live in Twin Pines’ units, Winter said. In Lebanon alone, he said, the group provides 121 units for families that depend on federal rent assistance.
The Tri-County Community Action Program, the primary provider of several social services in northern New Hampshire, would also struggle under the budget cuts.
The agency depends on federal money to run at least three programs that would be cut under the proposed budget; weatherization assistance, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the federal Community Services Block Grants, according to Rob Boschen, president of Tri-County CAP.
Tri-County CAP provides $5.1 million annually to almost 13,000 people in need of heating assistance in Grafton, Coos and Carroll counties. If heating assistance were cut, thousands could find themselves struggling to keep warm through the winter, Boschen wrote in an email.
“Whatever happens, we will adapt to keep the services available the best we can and the agency here to provide them,” Boschen wrote. “There is a long way to go in the budget process, so we are monitoring, preparing and not panicking so we can stay focused on our services.”
Berner said cuts have the potential to eliminate two programs run by the Grafton County Senior Citizens Council.
The president’s budget proposes to eliminate funding for the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which provides job training and placement services to adults 55 and older. The council employs between 20 and 30 trainees who receive a minimum wage and work part-time, Berner said in an email.
Budget cuts would also eliminate he Corporation for National and Community Service, which could lead to the closing of the council’s RSVP Volunteer Center, according to Berner. That center sponsors a fall risk reduction class for seniors, as well as an osteoporosis class and a chore assistance program.
The Upper Valley’s colleges might also have trouble offering the same level of financial assistance and maintaining research as a result of the budget.
Dartmouth College receives about $175 million in federal funding to support research and scholarships that might be in danger, according to the college’s website. The institution also has 10 faculty positions funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities, which would be eliminated under the proposed budget.
At Colby-Sawyer College in New London, about a third of students would lose some form of financial aid, according to Susan Stuebner, the college’s president.
Colby-Sawyer receives between $100,000 and $150,000 annually through the federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, which provides between $100 and $4,000 a year in assistance to students.
The college also provides $135,000 a year to students through work-study funding, and receives $100,000 in grant funds for research in conjunction with Dartmouth. Both would be threatened by the president’s proposal.
In Lebanon, city officials aren’t sure what would happen if federal funding is withdrawn from the Essential Air Service program, which provides subsidies to rural airports across the country.
Cape Air currently receives $3.2 million in federal funds to provide service between Lebanon Municipal Airport, Boston and White Plains, N.Y., which officials say would be unsustainable without such aid.
“We haven’t really talked about what might take its place,” said interim City Manager Paula Maville. “We would definitely be looking for something. We would lose a generous amount of revenue,”
Maville said city officials will have an ongoing discussion about the airport as Congress further discusses the budget. She said the city also plans to reach out to Sen. Maggie Hassan, D, for support.
State officials are also concerned about the potential elimination of the Northern Border Regional Commission, a body that provides infrastructure and investment grants to northern counties of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
The commission has helped fund several projects in the Upper Valley since 2010, including $150,000 toward the construction costs of River Valley Community College’s expansion into downtown Lebanon.
Overall, the commission provided $1.8 million in aid to New Hampshire projects in 2016, and another $1.8 million in Vermont.
“The funds, while modest at the federal level, have played a vital role in several significant projects throughout northern New Hampshire, including some in the Upper Valley area,” said Jeffrey Rose, commissioner of the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, who represents New Hampshire on the commission.
“From a New Hampshire perspective, we recognize that these funds are appropriated on an annual basis and we work to identify strong projects that will be fitting for these federal funds,” he said, adding the state recognizes that there’s never been a guarantee the money will continue.
Drastic steps are needed to reduce the federal deficit to a sustainable level, said Jim Rubens, a former Republican state senator from Etna.
While he supported Trump’s candidacy during his bid for the U.S. Senate, Rubens said Trump’s plan isn’t the most fiscally responsible. Instead of making cuts to social programs, he said, legislators need to take a hard look at big budget items, such as entitlement spending and the military.
“I don’t object to zeroing out funding to National Public Radio (NPR) or television, but do object to the sharp cuts to research,” Rubens said.
Both New Hampshire and Vermont’s congressional delegation also decried the cuts as harmful to state infrastructure and the poor who rely on federal funds.
“We cannot make America ‘Great Again’ at the expense of middle class families and the most vulnerable among us, and you do not make America ‘stronger’ by eliminating the very programs that make our nation more secure,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in a news release.
Pushback from Leahy and other members of Congress creates some reason to believe that the final budget will be very different from what has been proposed.
“I think the one thing that gives us all hope is that rarely is a president’s budget approved as initially proposed,” said Stuebner, Colby-Sawyer’s president. “Hopefully the members of Congress will preserve some of the really important programs.”
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.