Comptroller Stringer Releases Preliminary Analysis of President Trump’s Federal Budget Proposal

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New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer recently released a preliminary analysis of President Trump’s Federal budget and its effects on the City. The White House released its budget proposal on Tuesday, and the new analysis from Comptroller Stringer shows it would have a devastating impact on New York, touching every borough, changing the lives of millions of residents, and fundamentally shredding the safety net as we know it. In all, the Comptroller’s Office identified at least $850 million in cuts to the City.

“This budget has been called dead on arrival in Congress — and let’s hope so, because lives are at stake. President Trump’s budget wittingly targets New York and strips our most vulnerable of services they need. It’s deliberately designed to shred the safety net as we know it — and virtually nothing goes untouched. Counterterrorism, Medicaid, adult literacy, affordable housing, teachers, infrastructure, seniors — all of it is slashed,” Comptroller Stringer said. “My message to President Trump is this: this document doesn’t put taxpayers first — it puts everyday New Yorkers last. Budgets are about priorities, but they’re also a statement of values. It doesn’t get any more heartless – or more catastrophic – than this. It’s yet another document from this White House designed to support billionaires at the expense of the rest of us, and it’s wrong.”

NYC Budget Impacts

• Eliminates Community Development Block Grant Over 30% of the City’s CDBG funds are used to fund almost 80% of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) housing code enforcement activities, including 693,000 housing inspections, emergency heat and hot water repairs, and lead-paint mitigation and removal.
• Eliminates the HOME Investment Partnership ($12 million), which provides funding to support development of housing for low-income families and underserved populations.
• Eliminates the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helped some 770,000 New Yorkers keep their homes warm this winter ($23 million).
• Eliminates $108 million in Title II grants to the Department of Education (DOE) that help increase the number of highly-effective teachers and principals in schools.
• Eliminates 21^st Century Community Learning Centers grants ($21 million) that fund after-school programs for low-income students.
• Eliminates Impact Aid ($5 million) that compensates school districts for tax-exempt federal property.
• Eliminates the Community Services Block Grant ($48 million), which funds rental assistance, summer youth employment (SYEP), and adult literacy programs.
• Eliminates the Senior Community Service Employment Program ($4 million), which funds more than 50% of the Department for the Aging’s Senior Employment and Benefits programming.
• 39% reduction to Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grants, which fund 98% of the Department of Youth and Community Development’s (DYCD) In-School and Out-of-School Youth programming, and 75% of funding for the Department of Small Business Services’ Workforce One Centers, which serve nearly 105,000 unique jobseekers each year ($26 million).
• 10% reduction to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grants, which fund public assistance grants and a variety of other eligible programs, including $490 million for Department of Homeless Services (DHS) family shelters – 54% of family shelter spending.
• Eliminates the Social Services Block Grant ($68 million), which helps fund a variety of programs and services, including $26.5 million for Adult Protective Services in the Human Resources Administration (HRA) and $17.8 million for HRA Domestic Violence Services; and $20.6 million for senior centers, meals, and services in the Department for the Aging (DFTA).
• Eliminates the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses the Department of Correction for the cost of incarcerating certain categories of criminal aliens ($6 million).
• Reduces Department of State grants ($13 million) for the protection of foreign dignitaries.
• Requires a 25% non-federal match for Homeland Security Grants that support the NYPD’s counterterrorism work ($27 million).
• Cuts the federal contribution to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing operating budget by 20%, which would result in a $165 million cut to its operating fund. The Trump administration has also proposed cutting the public housing capital fund by two-thirds – a cut of at least $200 million annually to NYCHA.

Cuts to Individual Entitlements

• Cuts federal reimbursements for Medicaid, which provides health care to 3.5 million city residents and provides nearly $20 billion in annual federal funding to health care providers. Reductions would begin in FY 2020 with cuts ultimately reaching 24% in 2027.
• 35% reduction to grants in FY 2018 for New York State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health care to nearly 128,000 children in New York City.
• Limits Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, which support more than 173,000 disabled workers and their families in New York City and provide about $2.5 billion in annual benefits.
• Reduces Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, which assists nearly 399,000 city residents with $2.7 billion in annual benefits.
• Requires a new state funding match for Food Stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and limits eligibility for able-bodied adults. The average state match would be 10% in 2020 and reach 25% in 2023 and could reduce benefits for the 1.7 million city residents who currently receive close to $3 billion per year in food assistance.
• Eliminates Subsidized Student Loans, which benefited almost 19,000 City University of New York (CUNY) students, with new loan originations totaling $68 million in school year 2015-16.
• 50% reduction to the Federal Work-Study Program, which benefits 22,400 students at New York City schools, including 6,880 CUNY students, with $41 million in annual awards.
• Eliminates Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, which assists about 44,900 students attending school in New York City, including almost 20,000 CUNY students, with $21 million in annual awards.
• Limits claims for the federal Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to taxpayers with a social security number that is valid for work.

To read the Comptroller’s preliminary analysis of the President’s FY 2018 Budget, which now goes to and will likely be substantially modified by Congress, click here.

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