[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 13, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E304-E306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  STATE OF MINNESOTA RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT'S FISCAL YEAR 2019 BUDGET 
                                PROPOSAL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 13, 2018

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I recently held a hearing in St. Paul, 
Minnesota's capital city, to receive feedback on President Trump's 
fiscal year 2019 budget proposal. I am deeply appreciative for the 
input from the State of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota, Ramsey 
County, Washington County, the City of Saint Paul, and vital nonprofits 
like Lutheran Social Services, Clean Water Action, the Alzheimer's 
Association, Habitat for Humanity, Community Action Agencies, the 
Sierra Club, and the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits.
  The testimony I heard was clear and unambiguous, the President's 
budget will harm every aspect of our community--students, seniors, low-
income families, housing, the environment, refugees, and the list goes 
on and on. If a White House intentionally wanted to write a budget that 
shredded vital services to communities and essential services to school 
districts, local governments and state agencies this is that 
destructive, dangerous document.
  As this Republican Congress limps along trying to finish work on the 
fiscal year 2018 federal budget (nearly six months past the start of 
the fiscal year), we are now starting appropriations work for 2019. I 
expect there to be largely bipartisan agreement that President Trump's 
budget will be largely rejected in favor of some bipartisan common 
sense, if such a thing exists anymore.
  I include in the Record the following testimony from Eric Hallstrom, 
Deputy Commissioner, Minnesota Management and Budget and it clearly 
articulates what is at risk in our state if Mr. Trump's backwards 
agenda is advanced:

        Good Morning. For the record, my name is Eric Hallstrom 
     and I am Deputy Commissioner at Minnesota Management and 
     Budget, the state's budget agency. On behalf of Governor 
     Dayton and the State of Minnesota, thank you for the 
     opportunity to provide comments on the president's budget 
     proposal.
       Federal budget decisions have a direct impact on the 
     services Minnesotans receive. In considering the budget 
     proposal, we appreciate your attention to the profound 
     effects federal budget and fiscal policy decisions have on 
     the State of Minnesota. The president's budget contains deep 
     cuts in programs that have a disproportionate impact on the 
     most vulnerable Minnesotans, including children, the elderly, 
     and those living in poverty.
       As you are aware, at the state government level we adopt 
     balanced budgets on a two-year cycle. We make budget 
     decisions based on revenue projections that look out two and 
     four years into the future. Governor Dayton has spent the 
     last seven years working hard to right out state's fiscal 
     ship by ensuring Minnesota's budget is balanced. Under Gov 
     Dayton's leadership, we corrected the 6 billion dollar 
     deficit left by the previous administration. We restored the 
     state' s credit ratings to be some of the highest in the 
     nation. And nine out of the last ten budget forecasts showed 
     positive balances, compared to the decade of deficits before 
     Governor Dayton took office. While we always face risk that 
     our revenue projections will fluctuate, we are seeing more 
     uncertainty and risk at what we can expect in federal funding 
     levels than at any other point in recent history.
       The President's Fiscal Year 2019 budget cuts domestic 
     programs by a total of $3.6 trillion. In the absence of 
     substantial new spending by the State, the consequences of 
     these cuts would be an increase in hunger, poverty and 
     inequality in Minnesota. The President's budget cuts would 
     undermine the well-being of children and families, lead to 
     increases to Minnesota's uninsured rate and homeless 
     population. These cuts will result in our land and waterways 
     being less clean, our economic progress will be slowed, and 
     education opportunities will be denied to many Minnesotans. 
     In order to avoid these outcomes, the cuts would shift costs 
     to the state. Yet even if the State of Minnesota attempts to 
     bear as much of the burden as it can, we will simply not be 
     able to make up for the cuts outlined in the president's 
     draconian proposal.
       With the limited time I have, I'd like to discuss a few 
     major areas of the state budget that will experience the most 
     severe impacts. First I will start with health and human 
     services.
       Health and Human Services: Over the next decade, the 
     president's budget calls for cutting more than $800 billion 
     from Medicaid--

[[Page E305]]

     the federal health program for lower income and persons with 
     disabilities--as well as $192 billion from nutritional 
     assistance and $272 billion over all from anti-poverty 
     programs. These cuts create an enormous shortfall in 
     Minnesota's state budget, taking away billions of dollars per 
     year in federal Medicaid matching funds.
       The budget would rescind the ACA's Medicaid expansion and 
     replace it with a plan similar to the Graham-Cassidy bill 
     that failed in the Senate last year. These changes would 
     create Medicaid block grants to states and a per person 
     spending cap-in effect cutting spending and taking billions 
     of dollars per year away from Minnesota in federal Medicaid 
     matching funds. To make up for these losses, the state would 
     be faced with making difficult decisions to reduce health 
     care eligibility or benefits to make up for the shortfall. 
     These options make coverage uncertain for over 1 million 
     Minnesotans currently under Medical Assistance (MA), 
     Minnesota's Medicaid program, and the 100,000 Minnesotans who 
     purchased low-cost coverage through MinnesotaCare.
       Medicaid cuts of this level will also have a significant 
     impact on Minnesota schools. School districts and charter 
     schools rely heavily on Medicaid reimbursements to provide 
     federally mandated services to students with disabilities. An 
     estimated $46 million of federal reimbursements is paid to 
     Minnesota for these services annually. Any reduction will be 
     absorbed by a reallocation of school district general 
     education revenue or through increased burden on the state 
     budget or local tax payers.
       The President's budget cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition 
     Assistance Program, or SNAP, by 30 percent, or $213 billion 
     over ten years. SNAP is the most effective anti-hunger 
     program in our country and provides food to more than 645,000 
     low-income Minnesota children, seniors, people with 
     disabilities, and working families. Minnesota would lose $150 
     million per year and over a billion dollars over 10 years, 
     causing low-income Minnesotans to lose or reduce their 
     nutrition benefits.
       The President's budget cuts Temporary Assistance to Needy 
     Families (TANF) by 10 percent, resulting in a loss of $25 
     million per year for some of the lowest income Minnesota 
     families. In 2017, an average of 95,000 people--more than 70 
     percent of them children--in 34,000 families are receiving 
     assistance from the Minnesota Family Investment Program, our 
     state's TANF program.
       The following programs in the area of health and human 
     services are completely eliminated by President Trump's 
     budget. To continue any of the services they provide, the 
     state will have to backfill all of the funding.
       Social Services Block Grants (SSBG), a program that funds 
     child and adult protective services in Minnesota, is 
     eliminated. Minnesota receives $31 million from this program 
     annually, 95 percent of which is provided to counties and 
     tribes for direct services for vulnerable children and 
     adults.
       Community Services Block Grants (CSBG) is eliminated. The 
     program funds community action programs that serve every 
     county in Minnesota by providing locally-defined solutions to 
     address poverty. In 2015, more than 514,000 Minnesotans were 
     served by these funds. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 
     Program (LIHEAP) is eliminated. In federal FY 2017, Minnesota 
     received $114 million in federal funds from LIHEAP and served 
     nearly 320,000 Minnesotans.
       The impact of these cuts on the most vulnerable Minnesotans 
     cannot be emphasized enough. However, for the sake of time, I 
     will now briefly touch on the budget proposal's impact on the 
     state in several critical areas, including education, 
     infrastructure, housing, the environment, and agriculture.
       Education: All children in Minnesota depend on access to a 
     great education for good jobs and a bright future. Governor 
     Dayton has prioritized investments in education every year he 
     has served as governor, including paying back our schools, 
     increased investments in the K12 funding formula, funding 
     all-day kindergarten across the state, funding pre-K programs 
     for our youngest learners, and investing in our institutions 
     of higher education.
       Once again, the president's budget threatens to undo much 
     of this progress. The proposal includes an $8 billion or 12 
     percent cut from FY18 continuing resolution to the U.S. 
     Department of Education. These cuts include:
       The elimination of 29 programs with an annual reduction of 
     $5.9 billion (from FFY 17)
       The cancellation of $1.6 billion of unobligated balances in 
     the Pell Grant program.
       A few of the programs that the president's budget 
     completely eliminates include:
       Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants: Which 
     provided Minnesota $31.5 million that went to Minnesota 
     schools.
       21st Century Community Learning Centers: Minnesota 
     currently receives about $12.2 million that programs 
     programming at 108 community and school-based centers. In the 
     2015-16 school year the programs service 23,517 students 
     attending 384 different schools, including public, private, 
     charter, and BIE schools.
       Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) 
     Program, a campus-based federal grant for undergraduates with 
     exceptional financial need. In Minnesota in 2014 through 
     2015, approximately 27,000 postsecondary students received 
     approximately $19 million of these funds:
       Department of Education GEAR UP Program, which provides 
     funding for services at high-poverty middle and high schools 
     to help students succeed and prepare for college. In 
     Minnesota, over 61 ,000 students would lose valuable support 
     for postsecondary preparation and access, 158 schools and 
     over 40 higher education partners would be impacted, and 
     about 20 full time employees would be out of a job.
       Again, this list is not exhaustive, but instead only 
     illustrates some of the crucial social and economic programs 
     that the president's budget eliminates.
       Infrastructure/Transit: Turning to Infrastructure and 
     Transportation. Throughout his time as governor, Mark Dayton 
     has proposed honest, straightforward policies to fix 
     Minnesota's aging and under-funded transportation systems. 
     The economic success of the state hinges on long-term vision 
     and planning of our infrastructure. The governor welcomes a 
     discussion on increased investments in infrastructure and the 
     state stands ready to use increased funding on worthy 
     projects.
       However, the president's budget is short-sighted and would 
     significantly underfund critical projects. The budget flips 
     the traditional source of federal funding for capital 
     construction from a 20 percent state match to an 80 percent 
     state match. Under this scenario, Minnesota would have 
     trouble finding competitive projects.
       Critical to several ongoing transit projects across the 
     metro area, the President's budget proposes to fund only 
     those projects within the Federal Transit Administration's 
     Capital Investment Grant Program (CIG) that already have 
     existing full funding grant agreements. This policy would 
     prohibit the extension of the Green Line (Southwest LRT), the 
     Blue Line (Bottineau LRT) and Orange Line (Bus Rapid 
     Transit). The CIG program supports and generates regional 
     economic growth, connects workers to employers, relieves 
     congestion, and improves urban air quality. The President's 
     FY2019 budget proposal would essentially stop any of these 
     projects from moving forward by eliminating funding for 
     projects that are in the Capital Investment Grant pipeline 
     but have not yet secured federal funding agreements.
       Housing: More than 554,000 Minnesota households struggle to 
     afford quality housing, a 58 percent increase since 2000. 
     Under Governor Dayton's leadership, public and private 
     investments totaling more than $5 billion has helped nearly 
     325,000 low-and moderate-income households. He established a 
     task force on housing and has worked to find consensus on 
     policies to help alleviate Minnesota's housing challenges. 
     Significant work has yet to be done and the cuts to 
     affordable housing that are outlined in the president's 
     budget would take us backward. They would significantly 
     impact the stability of the most vulnerable households in 
     Minnesota and would increase the state's homeless population.
       The President's budget includes an 11 percent decrease in 
     Section 8 program funding. Minnesota Housing manages Section 
     8 project-based rental assistance on behalf of the federal 
     government. In FY 2016, this funding assisted nearly 32,000 
     households with median incomes of $12,000, 48 percent who are 
     seniors, and 22 percent are families with children. Housing 
     choice vouchers assist another 31,000 households. In addition 
     to cuts, the budget proposal would significantly strain low-
     income households by increasing the share of income paid 
     towards rent and eliminating utility reimbursements.
       The president's budget completely eliminates the several 
     programs that provide funding for affordable housing 
     services, primarily within the Department of Housing and 
     Urban Development (HUD). A few examples include:
       The HUD HOME Investment Partnership, the Low-Income 
     Weatherization Assistance Program at the Department of 
     Energy, and as mentioned earlier, the Community Develop1nent 
     Block Grant. These programs have collectively provided 
     roughly $68 million to Minnesota for affordable rental 
     housing, home rehabilitation, and energy efficiency 
     improvements for low-income family homes.
       In addition, the Interagency Council on Homelessness would 
     be eliminated, which would jeopardize Minnesota's recent 
     successes in effectively ending veteran's homelessness as 
     well as our 17 percent drops in family homelessness between 
     2014 and 2015.
       Environment: In the area of environmental policy, Governor 
     Dayton has been consistent and outspoken in advocating for 
     climate change prevention, the importance of clean water, and 
     the adverse impacts President Trump's presidency has been on 
     recent progress. The budget's attempt to gut the EPA and 
     funding to states is another step in the wrong direction.
       Even as the Trump Administration continues to roll back a 
     decade of hard-fought progress, Governor Dayton has made it 
     clear that Minnesota will not flinch. We will show the nation 
     what can be achieved by working together to solve the 
     challenges facing our people, our economy, and our 
     environment. We will share best practices with other states, 
     and work with them to mitigate the damaging impacts of the 
     President's dangerous and divisive policies.
       As the ranking member of the Interior-Environment 
     Appropriations Subcommittee, we sincerely appreciate your 
     efforts to relay Governor Dayton's concerns over the 
     president's enormous cuts to the EPA and programs it 
     supports.

[[Page E306]]

       The Environmental Protection Agency is cut by 23 percent in 
     the President's budget, which equates to a severe 54 percent 
     cut to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). The 
     impact to the state would be a loss $11.1 million in the 2019 
     federal fiscal year. These grants provide continuing 
     environmental program funding for all areas of work at the 
     MPCA. Programs proposed for elimination at EPA include the 
     Nonpoint Source Implementation Program which targets local 
     watershed studies and implementation projects to reduce or 
     eliminate sources of water quality pollution from diffuse 
     sources; Pollution Prevention Program which targets source 
     reductions; and Underground Storage Tank (UST) Program that 
     targets permitting and compliance activities for regulated 
     USTs.
       Included in the cuts to the EPA, the President's budget 
     reduces the Brownfield programs by 33 percent, limiting 
     redevelopment and restoration of land to commercial uses.
       The president's budget also cuts the EPA's Great Lakes 
     Restoration Initiative by 90 percent. The program supports 
     restoring and protecting watersheds in eight states 
     surrounding the Great Lakes that provide drinking water for 
     over 40 million Americans and drives a $62 billion annual 
     economy of fishing, boating and recreational activities. The 
     Minnesota Department of National Resources and the Minnesota 
     Pollution Control Agency receive Restoration Initiative 
     funding for the following activities:
       Annual grants for prevention and management of Aquatic 
     Invasive Species in the Great Lakes Basin ($800,000),
       Habitat restoration and remedial action plan implementation 
     activities in the St. Louis River Area of Concern Project 
     ($4.5 million grant), and
       Lake management activities to protect water quality in Lake 
     Superior Basin through efforts to reduce impairments and 
     toxic chemicals ($896,000).
       In addition, the Coastal Zone Management program through 
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is cut by 20 
     percent. The program funds $972,000 annually for protecting 
     streams and rivers in the Great Lakes area.
       Agriculture: Agriculture is a cornerstone of Minnesota's 
     economy, providing more than 400,000 jobs and $121 billion in 
     economic activity. The President's FY2019 budget proposes a 
     16 percent reduction in USDA discretionary spending and 
     showcases a lack of understanding about what is important to 
     rural America and the agriculture economy. The budget seeks 
     to weaken the safety net of crop insurance during a time of 
     low commodity prices putting our rural economies at risk. 
     Crop insurance provides farmers with the security they need 
     to increase yields, improve efficiencies, and stay 
     competitive in world markets. The President's budget calls 
     for steep cuts to premium subsidies and excludes producers 
     with an Adjusted Gross Income of more than $500,000.
       These budget and policy changes will harm Minnesota's 
     agricultural economy. We are hopeful that the next Farm Bill 
     will focus on fostering a robust farm and rural economy, 
     maintaining a strong nutrition title, and prioritizing 
     conservation and water quality programs.
       On behalf of Governor Dayton, the executive branch of the 
     State of Minnesota, and the millions of Minnesotans served by 
     the state, please voice your opposition to these cuts in the 
     President's budget, as well as any other draconian cuts to 
     programs that Minnesotans rely on. Moving forward, we are 
     available to work with you and others to ensure that the 2019 
     federal budget is a fair approach for the services upon which 
     Minnesotans depend. Thank you for the opportunity to provide 
     these remarks.

                          ____________________