close
close

How Trump’s Presidency Could Hurt Alabama: Federal Program Cuts Hit Us Harder Than Most

How Trump’s Presidency Could Hurt Alabama: Federal Program Cuts Hit Us Harder Than Most

In Alabama, 65% of voters supported Donald Trump’s return to the White House. the third consecutive election he carried the state in a landslide victory.

When Trump takes office on January 20, he will have the support of Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and the US Senate to implement his ideas.

What will Trump’s second term and Republican-led Congress mean in a state so loyal to the president-elect?

Republican officials and business leaders are optimistic that the new administration will deliver tax cuts and business regulations that will spark an economic surge.

Others say ideas put forward by Trump, his advisers and the Republican-led Congress, such as cutting federal programs, would be harmful to Alabama, a state that relies more than most on federal aid.

No plan for health care

During his first term as president, Trump called for repealing the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature initiative, but the effort failed.

This time, Trump said he wouldn’t try to end Obamacare unless he came up with a better plan. He has not offered one so far, although he said in the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September that the ACA was a “bad health care system.”

Robyn Hyden, executive director of the organization Alabama rises, who advocates for policies that help low-income families, said Trump and Congress could weaken the ACA without repealing it, to the detriment of Alabamians who rely on it.

One example, Hyden said, would be cutting tax credits that help people buy insurance in the ACA’s health insurance marketplace. Congress increased appropriations under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021. Hyden said this made insurance more affordable for many. But the enhanced credits are set to expire next year.

“It’s a concern that not only are these enhanced premium tax credits expiring and returning to the low levels they were before ARPA, but there could be additional cuts or attacks on the premium law affordable care,” Hyden said.

Another concern is possible changes or cuts to Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

Federal funds cover about 70 percent of the cost of Medicaid in Alabama. Medicaid enrollment in Alabama typically hovers around a million people, a little more than half of whom are children.

Hyden said Medicaid cuts, such as reducing the federal match paid to states, would be harmful.

“We hope that our state leaders, our governor, our members of Congress and our senators will protect and support our current health infrastructure, because these cuts would be truly devastating,” Hyden said.

“These cuts would also be very harmful to pregnant women who rely on Medicaid and postpartum women,” Hyden said. “Ensuring that moms have pregnancy care before and after pregnancy is critical to reducing our maternal mortality rate.”

A report released last year showed that Alabama had the highest maternal mortality rate in the country, or mothers dying from pregnancy-related causes. Alabama’s rate was almost double the national rate, and the rate for black women was significantly higher.

Medicaid covered about 45% of births in Alabama in 2023, according to March of Dimes.

“It would be devastating for rural hospitals, which are already struggling to cope with uncompensated care, if fewer and fewer people actually received Medicaid,” Hyden said.

Would tariffs hurt Alabama?

Trump supports raising tariffs on imported goods, which he says would help U.S. businesses compete and create jobs, but which economists say would raise costs and slow economic growth.

Trump said he would propose a 25% tariff on all Mexican and Canadian imports in retaliation for what he sees as a failure to combat illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking.

The president-elect proposed a new 10 percent tariff on all products from China, on top of tariffs established during his first term, which averaged about 15 percent.

Critics say countries targeted by Trump’s tariffs would impose their own new taxes on U.S. products. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned against such retaliation.

During Trump’s first term, Gov. Kay Ivey says Alabama could lose about 4,000 jobs due to the auto tariffs being considered by the Trump administration.

Learn more: The last time Trump talked about tariffs, Alabama politicians weren’t fans

Some say Trump is using tariffs as a negotiating tool.

State Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, chosen by his Republican colleagues to serve as president pro tempore of the Alabama Senate starting next year, said he believes Trump is proposing tariffs for the right reasons.

“My personal belief, I feel like he’s doing what he thinks is right,” Gudger said.

Gudger said America needs policies to help compete with companies where manufacturing is cheap due to a lack of environmental regulations and other factors.

“A tariff is the only way to level the playing field so Americans can produce and create jobs, manufacturing jobs here in the states,” Gudger said.

Mass deportation

Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation plan in American history. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that there were approximately 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States in 2022, more than half of whom came from Mexico and Central America.

Alabama’s Hispanic population grew to more than 250,000 people in 2022, a 3.8% increase since 2021, according to US Census Bureau estimates. This Hispanic population growth rate ranks 8th in the United States.

The Center for Migration Studies it is estimated that there were approximately 60,000 undocumented immigrants living in Alabama in 2022, approximately two-thirds of whom came from Mexico and Guatemala.

Alabama Arise Executive Director Hyden said a mass deportation would hurt immigrant families in Alabama and the state’s economy. She said it would be similar to what happened when Alabama passed the nation’s toughest immigration law in 2011, known as HB56. Federal courts have blocked most of the law.

“Immigrant families, even those who are here with documentation, will be forced back into the shadows if a family member is undocumented,” Hyden said. “When Alabama passed HB56 in 2011, we saw an immediate and long-term impact impact on our economy and public safety. When immigrants are threatened, we find that they are less likely to apply for public benefits to which their families would otherwise be entitled. The children therefore find themselves without food, without school meals or Medicaid.

Learn more: Anxiety grips Alabama immigrants as Trump plans mass deportation: ‘I just felt like I wasn’t safe’

“We find that they are less likely to report a crime out of fear or fear of retaliation from law enforcement. And these workers continue to be exploited without legal status. So we are very concerned not only about the expulsions, but also about the demonization and blaming of undocumented people.”

Carlos Aleman, executive director of HICA, a nonprofit that helps immigrants become prosperous, said Alabama’s immigrant communities are worried and uncertain.

“We just encourage people to educate themselves and be aware of the rights that they already have,” Aleman told AL.com. “We’re certainly hearing concerns, but it hasn’t necessarily led to a mass exodus of any kind. »

Vote against your own interests?

Trump’s unofficial advisory group, the Department of Government Effectiveness, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is talking about cutting the federal budget by 30 percent.

Alabama relies more on federal programs than most states. The ratio of federal spending to federal taxes paid per person in Alabama is about two to one, one of the highest in the nation. according to the Rockefeller Institute.

“I think it’s unfortunate sometimes that some Alabamians end up voting against their own interests,” Sen. Merika Coleman of Pleasant Grove, chair of the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, said before the election. “And that’s just because of partisanship.”

“Alabama, when you look at us nationally, we are considered a poorer state. We are a recipient state and not a donor state. So we get a lot of money from the federal government.

Medicaid covers four out of nine children in Alabama, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

As of June, about 750,000 people in Alabama, or about 15 percent of the population, were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.

“One in five children in our state live in poverty,” Hyden said. “One in four people, or 25%, struggle with hunger. So any reduction in SNAP benefits or food assistance programs creates more hungry children. And at the end of the day, that’s not what we want for a successful state.”

Hyden said the scale of federal spending cuts that Trump and his advisers have talked about raises concerns about the future of programs such as SNAP, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

“If a budget is a statement of our values, our values ​​should be that we protect and support the common good and that we want to help children and families who are struggling, especially in these times when food is so expensive, health care The cost of housing is so high,” Hyden said. “These programs are there when people are going through tough times to ensure they survive.”