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A Devastating Budget for American Communities and Public Safety

“[T]he largest loss of healthcare in American history.” – Rep. Boyle (D-PA)

Congress is poised to pass Trump’s budget, adopting sweeping cuts to Medicaid that will result in approximately $1.1 billion in reduced funding to the program and nearly 17 million people losing their health insurance under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. In another direct attack on the health of our nation’s poorest, the budget also dramatically constricts food stamp (SNAP) benefits. Overall, this bill incorporates reverse Robin Hood policy: stealing from the poor to benefit the rich. An analysis of the Senate bill by researchers at Yale concluded that changes to taxes, Medicaid and SNAP will result in a 2.9% decline in income for the poorest 20% of Americans and increase earnings of the top 1% by 1.9%.

These cuts portend disaster to the nation’s health and wellbeing. But the public safety impacts of these cuts have received less attention, and they are huge. Medicaid and SNAP benefits dramatically decrease economic anxiety and also reduce substance use disorders while treating mental health. It is not hard to see how taking a hatchet to them will lead to less safety. These reductions also come on the heels of huge cuts to DOJ programs proven to reduce violence that this Administration made in April.

Put together, and our communities are in deep trouble unless states and local governments step up.

It is clear that this Congress and the President are totally committed to creating harm and chaos – a perfect excuse to increase the presence of law enforcement and ICE (which this bill funds). All those who voted for this bill will be responsible for any decrease in safety that we see, and we should remember and hold them accountable for their destructive choices.

The Medicaid cuts evince a total disregard for public safety. Research shows that losing access to Medicaid results in an increase in crime.
  • When  190,000 people in Tennessee lost Medicaid coverage in Tennessee due to eligibility changes,  researchers found a 7.1% increase in the crime rate.
  • Losing Medicaid also resulted in housing instability and decreased mental health and substance use outcomes, which of course, correlates with more crime.
  • Conversely, in many places, police arrests declined between 20-32% in the first three years following Medicaid expansion.
  • Drug arrests went down between 21-45% in some places.
  • Those who voted for this bill are aware of this research– which is totally consistent with common sense – they are just choosing to have more arrests and less safety.
The Bill also cuts SNAP benefits, even though increased access to SNAP reduces recidivism rates.
  • California has long restricted access to SNAP benefits for those with certain criminal histories. And a study of  that policy found it dramatically increased the likelihood of rearrest.
  • That should not be a surprise–programs that help reduce economic instability and anxiety improve public safety.
  • And now, everyone will have less access to these benefits.
  • The Federal Government’s cruelty, funding tax cuts for the wealthy while devastating the poor, is yet another example of the current Administration’s scorn for those who have less.
This Bill cannot be considered in isolation – it is just another attack on life-saving programs promoted by this Administration.
  • Health care keeps communities safe, and so does access to support services that help people recover from trauma and violence. Violence intervention programs, which intervene in the highest-risk communities to stop conflict before it explodes, keep people safe. Programming for kids keeps us safe.
  • But the Trump Administration has also attacked those.
  • In April, the Trump Administration announced $820 million in cuts to violence prevention and other justice and safety initiatives.
  • These included $245 million in community violence interruptor programs, which have reduced shootings by over 60% in some places.
  • They included $331 million in services for survivors, like programs to help gunshot wound victims that also reduce future violence, and for substance use and mental health services.
  • Compounded with these Medicaid cuts, the elimination of substance use and mental health treatment funds are especially disastrous.
We must never again let those who supported this bill claim they care about public safety. This is a shameful moment in history where our legislators voted to gut the infrastructure necessary to keep us safe
  • If and when we experience a crime wave, we know where to look and who to blame – and it is this Administration.
  • And when we look back in a decade, and again in twenty years, the history books must not forget that the people who voted for this bill knowingly caused serious harm.
  • Like a person who sells a ghost gun, or a drug laced with fentanyl, they know full well that these cuts will lead to serious harm and less public safety in communities across the country, including in ones many of these people claim to proudly represent.
  • They voted for it anyway. And we must never forget that

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