skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Economist: Trump Budget a "Devastating Blow" to Ohio

play audio
Play

Monday, June 19, 2017   

COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the federal budget process plays out in Congress, a national economist says there's a lot at stake for Ohio.

President Donald Trump's proposal attempts to balance the budget by 2027, with nearly $4.5 trillion in cuts.

The President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Bob Greenstein, who spoke at the City Club of Cleveland on Friday, says the cuts are unprecedented, targeting food assistance, Medicaid, housing programs and job training.

He says states could only respond to that level of lost funding by raising taxes significantly, or cutting key investments and public services.

"For a state that's been struggling with economic change and inter-globalization and the like, as the Ohio economy does, and a state that's been grappling with some budget shortfalls, the Trump budget would be a pretty devastating blow," he explains.

Greenstein says the plan cut grants to states by $44 billion - and in Ohio, more than one-third of the total budget is made up of federal grants. He notes many of the proposed reductions are in programs that help the most vulnerable: children, families, the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

The cuts are being proposed as a way to fund tax cuts and increase military spending.

Democrats have strongly criticized the plan, and some Republicans are critical of certain elements. But Greenstein notes some of the measures are not unique, having been proposed by House Republicans since 2011 - including cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and job training.

"Some of the specific, individual, most unpopular proposals may be dead on arrival, but its broad themes - because they're similar to those of Congressional Republican budgets of recent years - it's a mistake to dismiss it as dead on arrival," he explains. "It needs to be taken seriously."

Greenstein says there's also concern about the House-passed American Health Care Act that would leave 23 million more Americans without health insurance. He also thinks it's troubling that Senate lawmakers haven't released any details of the Senate version of the bill.

"Health care is, like, one-sixth of the U.S. economy," he adds. "We're talking about redesigning it behind closed doors with few people knowing what's going into the bill. The way to do health care is on a bipartisan basis, and transparently."

The Senate could hold a vote on the legislation before the July 4 recess.

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded by the George Gund Foundation.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021