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Tuesday, April 4, 2017

He Won, You Lost: Trump looking out for...and avoiding the "Forgotten Men and Women."

It's almost surreal watching pundits try to predict what will happen next in the Trump administration. Seriously, there is no logical rhyme or reason for their actions, no set of government guidelines they're aware of. Trump isn't trying to learn the system, he's winging it, with paranoid anti-government advisers hell bent on gutting 200 years of progress. And don't get me started on nepotism, conflicts of interest, and presidential profiteering.

With that said, let's see what every desperate Trump supporting "forgotten American" will not get for their vote and drooling loyal obedience:

NEW: Dairy farms fear Trump's immigration policies: 
Without the foreign-born help, some farmers say, they would be forced to quit milking cows because there aren’t enough other people willing to accept such physically demanding jobs for $13 an hour.
NEW: Trump’s Hurts Rural communities by spinning off air traffic control from the federal government:
Handing it over to a nonprofit or nongovernmental agency in an effort to modernize operations, critics argue that the interests of the general aviation industry and small airports would not be adequately represented under such a model, and worry that an outside agency would impose new fees and taxes.

“Rural communities, agriculture and small businesses stand to lose the most under a privatized system, where there would be no Congressional oversight to ensure that all stakeholders and communities have access to air transportation,” a group of rural and agricultural organizations wrote in a letter to congressional transportation leaders this week.

NEW: Rural Voters Are Furious As Trump Decimates AMTRAK Budget:
Under Trump’s proposed budget, funding for rail and air transportation to small towns and cities across the nation’s heartland would be completely eliminated or severely cut. Trump is asking Congress to cut $2.4 billion from the transportation budget which would eliminate all federal funding for Amtrak’s national network trains, which provide the only rail serve for 144.6 million Americans in 23 states. That translates into lost jobs, a disincentive for manufacturers to invest there and higher costs for goods and food.

Jim Matthews, President of the NARP said on his group’s website: “These working class communities – many of them located in the Midwest and South – were tired of being treated like ‘flyover country,'” added Matthews. “But by proposing the elmination of Amtrak’s long distance trains, the Trump Administration does them one worse, cutting a vital service that connects these small town economies to the rest of the U.S.'”
NEW:  Senators fight to defend rural air service from Trump budget cuts:
A bipartisan group of senators is fighting to maintain commercial air service in rural communities after the Trump administration called for eliminating federal support for such a program.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said Thursday that he was “floored” by the president’s budget proposal, which proposes cutting all funding for Essential Air Service (EAS). The 40-year-old program helps give small towns and remote communities access to, where it can otherwise be difficult to support financially.

1. Health Care Freedom? 24 million will lose health insurance and everyone else will see co-pays and deductibles skyrocket.

2. Jeff Sessions backs Unconstitutional policing, excessive force and misconduct to combat Uptick in Killings: 


Attorney General Jeff Sessions painted a grim vision of violence in America on Tuesday, telling state law enforcement officials that a recent uptick in killings threatens to undo decades of progress and suggested police would be more effective if they were subjected to less federal scrutiny ... the Trump administration not only plans to scale back the number of new investigations it launches into unconstitutional policing, excessive force and other law enforcement misconduct allegations but also the likelihood it will seek to reopen agreements the Obama civil rights unit had already negotiated.
3. The FCC wants to block dozens of companies from providing low-cost Internet, known as Lifeline to Rural Americans, Vets, and Seniors: 
Saying that state officials should decide whether to allow those companies to participate in the federal program. Through Lifeline, roughly 3.5 million Americans receive a monthly credit worth $9.25 that they then use to reduce the cost of buying mobile or residential broadband. Millions more use the subsidy to purchase traditional phone service. The program created during the Reagan administration, supports seniors, veterans and rural Americans who otherwise cannot afford phone or Internet service. It is not funded by taxpayer dollars but by the fees collected on consumers' phone bills each month. Opponents of the decision said the move will limit struggling Americans' ability to choose a good provider, particularly in rural or low-income areas. "The Chairman’s position stands in stark contrast to his stated aim to close the digital divide," said the consumer group Public Knowledge, "by raising barriers to affordable choices available to low-income families."
4. Small, mid-size manufacturers may lose consulting services in Donald Trump budget. 
Trump’s budget proposes to eliminate federal funds to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program that make up nearly half of the revenues for the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity … MEP “has a direct impact on manufacturing, and when you start talking about measurable impact, over the history of the program the whole national system has a return of $12 to $1,” Buckley Brinkman, CEO of Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity.
5. Making it harder for Wisconsin residents to stay warm in the winter: 
President Trump’s budget eliminates the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps people with low incomes heat their homes. In 2016, 199,190 people in the state received federal heating assistance … President Trump’s budget proposal eliminates that assistance.
6. Making it more difficult for struggling students to keep out of trouble and stay in school.
Trump’s budget zeroes out funding for community learning centers, which provide after-school programs for students in school districts in low-income areas … Community learning centers get results, despite the claims of Trump’s budget director.  An evaluation of Wisconsin community learning centers showed that the centers helped students miss fewer days of school and have fewer out-of-school suspensions. Students participating in the programs were more likely to graduate from high school, and more likely to continue their education after high school.
7. Harder to keep Wisconsin shorelines clean: 
Presidents Trump’s budget wipes out $300 million in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which pays for projects that improve water quality, protect and restore native habitats and species, and address environmental problems in Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states. Scott Walker opposes Trump’s proposed cuts, saying that “the Great Lakes are an incredible asset. They’re an asset from a commercial standpoint in terms of fishing and tourism, but also in general in terms of quality of life.”
8. By denying equal access justice to people with low incomes
Trump’s budget axes the Legal Services Corporation, which in 2016 provided $5 million to organizations in Wisconsin to provide free legal services for people who can’t afford a lawyer. Last year, almost 16,000 Wisconsin residents were helped by these legal services.
9. Shifting costs to our state government and making it harder to balance the state budget. 
Federal money makes up almost a third of the Wisconsin state budget. Federal money provides health care coverage for families and individuals with low incomes, supports research at the University of Wisconsin, and strengthens Wisconsin’s transportation network. Trump’s budget would cut the money coming into the state, leaving Wisconsin on the hook to make up part of the nearly $11 billion per year in these federal investments.
10. Trump Pulls Back Obama-Era Protections For Women Workers: 
Trumprevoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order then-President Barack Obama put in place to ensure that companies with federal contracts comply with 14 labor and civil rights laws. The Fair Pay order was put in place after a 2010 Government Accountability Office investigation showed that companies with rampant violations were being awarded millions in federal contracts.

In an attempt to keep the worst violators from receiving taxpayer dollars, the Fair Pay order included two rules that impacted women workers: paycheck transparency and a ban on forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination claims.
We're about to find out how big a problem "government" is, once it's been eliminated. Remember...
Republicans (72%) are twice as likely as Democrats (37%) to agree with former President Ronald Reagan that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Fifty-six percent (56%) of unaffiliated votes share that view.
It that were true, then why are private educators, manufacturers, and corporate CEO's always trying to get the government to fork over more and more of our taxpayer dollars?  

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