I wonder if this is what they voted for/ LOL!
Quiet as it's kept in Trump country..most red states depend on federal spending far more than blue states do--but..their tax base and infrastructure is not as robust. Like it or not, Blue states are where the money is.
While many blue states are able to step in with substitute programs..red states cannot, or will not, soften the blows.
The phone rang over the whine of Trey Yates' butter churn. The person calling was polite, but the message was devastating: Mountaineer Food Bank was ending Yates' butter contract, due to the federal government's funding cuts.
The next day, President Donald Trump signed a declaration celebrating National Agriculture Day, praising farmers and food makers like Yates. But the canceled contract with the federally funded food bank, one of only two in West Virginia, had been a lifeline for Yates' business.
In that moment, Yates, 27, wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on. Heart pounding, he called his father, John Yates, shocked that Trump's administration would take such action.
"Dad, they're trying to bankrupt me," he said. Yates, a registered independent, said he did not vote for Trump.
Along the winding back roads and Appalachian hollers of West Virginia, in a state where Trump won 70% of the votes cast in November, his administration's vow to cut back on government spending is being keenly felt.
Yates' lost sales stem from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which was due to provide about $500 million this year to food banks.
Trump's administration also rolled out cuts to other federal funding that has kept small agriculture businesses like Yates' Greenbrier Dairy churning.
Orchard owner Natasha Zoe, a retired Marine, is waiting on grant funds to reimburse her for building a small cannery near the town of Alderson that will allow fruit farmers to make and sell syrups and juices.
And money that helped food banks and schools buy farmer Johnny Spangler's blueberries and popcorn in Lindside has been cut – after he scaled up plantings and bought a bigger truck to meet demand.
From grants from the USDA and the Department of Commerce, to funds from the Small Business Administration, an intricate web of economic support from Washington has for decades pumped money into rural America.
Much of it has now been frozen, cut back or eliminated – including at least $1.5 billion in USDA funds for schools and food banks.
"The federal government is the engine of money, while the states are the distributors of money," said James L. Perry, professor emeritus at Indiana University, who studies federal grant administration. "This has become more pronounced as the federal budget has grown."
The cuts now force states to come up with funding from their own budgets – or shutter programs altogether, Perry said. States like West Virginia – where more than half the $19.2 billion annual budget for fiscal 2025 relies on federal funds – are particularly hard-hit.
Quiet as it's kept in Trump country..most red states depend on federal spending far more than blue states do--but..their tax base and infrastructure is not as robust. Like it or not, Blue states are where the money is.
While many blue states are able to step in with substitute programs..red states cannot, or will not, soften the blows.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/federal-funding-cuts-ripple-through-heart-trump-country-2025-03-29/
The phone rang over the whine of Trey Yates' butter churn. The person calling was polite, but the message was devastating: Mountaineer Food Bank was ending Yates' butter contract, due to the federal government's funding cuts.
The next day, President Donald Trump signed a declaration celebrating National Agriculture Day, praising farmers and food makers like Yates. But the canceled contract with the federally funded food bank, one of only two in West Virginia, had been a lifeline for Yates' business.
In that moment, Yates, 27, wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on. Heart pounding, he called his father, John Yates, shocked that Trump's administration would take such action.
"Dad, they're trying to bankrupt me," he said. Yates, a registered independent, said he did not vote for Trump.
Along the winding back roads and Appalachian hollers of West Virginia, in a state where Trump won 70% of the votes cast in November, his administration's vow to cut back on government spending is being keenly felt.
Yates' lost sales stem from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, which was due to provide about $500 million this year to food banks.
Trump's administration also rolled out cuts to other federal funding that has kept small agriculture businesses like Yates' Greenbrier Dairy churning.
Orchard owner Natasha Zoe, a retired Marine, is waiting on grant funds to reimburse her for building a small cannery near the town of Alderson that will allow fruit farmers to make and sell syrups and juices.
And money that helped food banks and schools buy farmer Johnny Spangler's blueberries and popcorn in Lindside has been cut – after he scaled up plantings and bought a bigger truck to meet demand.
From grants from the USDA and the Department of Commerce, to funds from the Small Business Administration, an intricate web of economic support from Washington has for decades pumped money into rural America.
Much of it has now been frozen, cut back or eliminated – including at least $1.5 billion in USDA funds for schools and food banks.
"The federal government is the engine of money, while the states are the distributors of money," said James L. Perry, professor emeritus at Indiana University, who studies federal grant administration. "This has become more pronounced as the federal budget has grown."
The cuts now force states to come up with funding from their own budgets – or shutter programs altogether, Perry said. States like West Virginia – where more than half the $19.2 billion annual budget for fiscal 2025 relies on federal funds – are particularly hard-hit.
