Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
President's Blueprint Targets The Very People Who Helped Put Him Into Office
Reuters: Trump Budget Cuts May Stir Backlash In Rural America
President Donald Trump’s proposals to slash federal aid to the poor, the sick and people living in rural areas reflect conservatives' demands for a smaller federal government but target many of the very people who voted for him last November. In his first detailed budget submission to Congress on Tuesday, Trump requested major reductions to programs that help poor families afford groceries and poor and disabled people get healthcare. (Cowan, 5/23)
McClatchy: Trump Budget Seen As A 'Slap In The Face' To His Rural Voters
Two of farmers’ most powerful Republican advocates in the Senate slammed President Donald Trump’s proposal Tuesday to slash crop insurance, warning those and other budget cuts would badly wound one of the president’s most loyal constituencies. Voters who live in rural areas gave Trump a 61-34 percent advantage over Democrat Hillary Clinton in November, according to network exit polls. (Wise and Lowry, 5/23)
Modern Healthcare: Trump Budget Targets Rural Hospitals, Minority Health Professional Education
Proposed cuts in President Donald Trump's 2018 budget for HHS would reduce funding for rural hospitals and hurt the supply pipeline for black and Hispanic healthcare professionals. The budget proposal targets several rural hospital grants in its projected cuts. The Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant, at $42 million, is proposed for elimination. The Obama administration previously had recommended cutting the program, saying it was duplicative. The new budget also zeroes out grants to state offices of rural health, a $9 million program. (Lee, 5/23)
San Antonio Press-Express: USDA Staffing Faces Steep Cuts Under Trump Budget Proposal
More than 5,200 staffers would be cut from the agency that oversees food stamps, farm loans, animal and plant disease prevention, and other programs under the 2018 budget proposal President Donald Trump sent to Congress on Tuesday... While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle quickly proclaimed the spending plan overly aggressive and likely dead on arrival, Perdue during the call recalled getting through tough fiscal times as governor of Georgia and said he would lead the USDA amid any approved cuts. (Brezosky, 5/23)
Meanwhile, governors in California and Louisiana react to the budget —
Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Budget Will Hit Hard For California's Most Vulnerable, Advocates And State Lawmakers Warn
President Trump’s proposed budget would likely result in billions of dollars of cuts to vital health and human services programs in California, state Democratic lawmakers and advocates for the poor said Tuesday. “It’s unconscionable and un-American,” said Gov. Jerry Brown in a written statement. (Myers, 5/23)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Governor To Donald Trump: Your Budget Robs My State Of Coastal Restoration Money
[Gov. John Bel] Edwards said the budget proposal also threatens key health care services such as the Children's Health Insurance Program, which offers health care to 122,000 Louisiana children. He urged the state's congressional delegation to oppose Trump's budget, "including cutting federal funding for Medicaid patients and health care providers by eliminating Medicaid expansion coverage and cutting health care for elderly and disabled residents." (Shleifstein, 5/23)
