I’ve always thought that the primary purpose of the government is to serve the people. Unfortunately, under the Trump administration’s slash-and-burn strategy on government spending, that is simply not the case. These cuts will have massive consequences and are affecting a profuse amount of people, possibly even you.
Ever since the controversial creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there have been numerous cuts to integral government services. DOGE’s creation is due to Trump’s plan to cut $1 trillion in spending by the end of the year. This, of course, is part of the administration’s larger goal to extend the Trump-era 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It is a Republican-sponsored bill heavily influenced by the Republican philosophy of trickle-down economics, a belief that calls for massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
If Trump is unable to gut the government, then extending the bill would further our national debt. As a result, the administration has gone after the Department of Education in an attempt to limit spending. Most recently, Trump signed an official executive order that began the process of the Department of Education’s destruction.
A previous editorial revealed how a dismantled Department of Education, one of Trump’s promises, would affect the school. As a Title I School, DPMHS is eligible for funding from the Department of Education. However, if the Department of Education were to be fully disbanded, then the school would lose the $185,681 that it receives from the federal government.
Federal funding is appropriated to ensure that schools with high poverty rates can still succeed academically. The guidelines for what federal funding can be used is flexible, since it can be used for anything as long as it can assist students academically. This could mean after-school tutoring, textbooks and resources for Special Education. Without the Department of Education, we could likely lose integral resources that guide our education, which would make the school unequipped to foster learning,
Previous layoffs at the Education Department are already key examples of the administration slowly beginning its dismantlement. Without these federal workers, the department is unable to effectively manage funding. Without the department many college applicants could be greeted with disastrous consequences. Mainly, the effects from a department that oversees funding for financial aid being destroyed.
Once again, it is unclear what will occur to students’ financial aid, but there are some grim possibilities. Specifically, student loans could be handed off to privatized loan industries, which many fear will result in these corporations extorting money out of those with no other options. Otherwise, the aid the department provides could either be outright eliminated or passed to other agencies, which often results in poorly managed services that are either ineffective or unhelpful.
Another service likely next on the chopping block for Trump’s budget cuts is Medicaid. It is unrealistic for the Trump administration’s plans to become a reality, without Medicaid cuts as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.
Although it is not entirely clear how major cuts could affect Medicaid, there will need to be major changes to the service to maintain operations. This has led Californian politicians to consider some tough decisions on the future of federally-funded state-run healthcare. Namely, possible limitations on who is allowed to have it or what services they can receive.
This is likely to affect any Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) families on Medicaid. Especially since 56% of the school population is considered to be economically disadvantaged. What this means, is that people in the school could face a severely underfunded healthcare system, or they could instead lose it altogether.
The education and the healthcare of not only students here but across the country are at stake. All of this is at risk due to the Trump administration’s fixation with limiting spending. Trump’s priorities are with a tax system that benefits the wealthy, at the expense of the basic government services that are truly essential to the people.
