APPALACHIA — Following the release of President Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, ReImagine Appalachia issued the following statement:
“President Trump’s budget proposal is not just a set of numbers on a page — it is a statement of values that will have very real impacts on the region. And those values are clear: pour $1.5 trillion into defense spending while gutting the domestic programs that Appalachian families and communities depend on to get by or that position the region to better thrive in the future.
A 10 percent across-the-board cut to non-defense spending, as proposed by President Trump, would be devastating to our region.
The Appalachian Regional Commission has been the backbone of economic development across our 13-state region for decades — funding workforce training, broadband expansion, water and sewer infrastructure, manufacturing expansion, and community revitalization projects that create jobs and keep small towns viable. Last year, the administration proposed slashing ARC funding by 93 percent, from $200 million to just $14 million. Congress rejected that proposal, and for good reason. But the administration is back again with another budget that treats Appalachian communities as an afterthought with a 40% cut to current budget levels.
Meanwhile, coal miners and their families who gave their health and their lives to power this nation continue to face threats to Black Lung disability benefits and the health screening programs they depend on. This administration has already shut down federal programs that screened miners for Black Lung disease and delayed enforcement of critical dust exposure limits. Now, a proposed 26 percent cut to the Department of Labor, including cuts to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the elimination of Job Corps, would further hollow out the safety net that miners and working families across our region have earned.
And it doesn’t stop there. Programs that help Appalachian families reduce their high energy bills, clean up and stabilize abandoned mine sites, invest in community development, and access basic services are all on the chopping block. In a new era of increasing inflation brought on by Trump Administration policies, these cuts add insult to injury..
Proposed program cuts by the president include:
- Ending funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) which helps families pay their utility bills and funds low-income home weatherization.
- The proposed budget would also close the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which supports the AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA programs that place more than 200,000 individuals in nonprofit, faith-based, and local organizations where they can develop job training and marketable skills and provide key services to American communities while building pathways out of poverty.
- The closure of the Economic Development Administration (EDA) which awards grants that help communities bolster innovation, domestic manufacturing, industrial competitiveness, and economic development, including continued funding for rural and disadvantaged communities. Historically underinvested communities often face the most challenges to obtaining the resources needed to rebuild.
This budget says that the people in our communities, the workers who built this country’s energy economy, and the families trying to make ends meet, are not a priority for the Trump Administration.
We reject that. Federal investments in Appalachia are essential building blocks for a thriving regional economy – for good jobs, clean water, healthy communities, and a better future for our children.
There has been a consistent thread running through Appalachia’s history: our region has fueled the nation’s growth time and again, through coal, oil, steel, and natural gas. And time and again, when those industries decline, our communities are left to pick up the pieces with little help. This budget continues that pattern, taking from the communities that deserve the most and giving to the absentee corporations that have more than enough already.
ReImagine Appalachia calls on Congress to reject these devastating cuts and instead invest in the programs that are working. These are programs that create good jobs, grow domestic manufacturing, support workers and families in transition to new, quality jobs, and build the infrastructure our communities need to thrive in the 21st century economy.
Congress stood up for Appalachia last year. We urge them to do it again.”