Proposed Republican Budget Cuts Would Disproportionately Affect Black Americans

Republicans have proposed budget cuts to programs that would negatively affect Black Americans as a government shutdown looms.

As Congress stares down the threat of yet another shutdown, House Republicans have proposed a litany of budget cuts to programs that will negatively affect Black Americans.

Reuters reports House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger said the group has crafted 12 government spending bills that she called “the most conservative appropriations bills in history.”

The budget cuts include a federally funded program that scrubs hazardous lead paint from homes, the termination of the Healthy Start program, which has battled infant mortality for more than 30 years, and a 67% funding cut to rehabilitate and build affordable housing units.

Republicans also want to make budget cuts to a program that finances the construction and rehabilitation of low-income homes. Under their proposal, the program would see a two-thirds reduction from its $1.5 billion last year, according to Reuters.

The spending bills would significantly affect Black Americans. National Urban League leader Marc Morial told Reuters the cuts are “a large list of politically and racially motivated special interest initiatives.”

In other words “Blame the poor. Blame the Blacks and Latinos” for fiscal problems, Morial added.

Republican-proposed reductions in food stamps would largely affect White people who comprise nearly half of its recipients.

The Committee did back some spending increases, including a $96 million hike in homeless assistance grants.

Republicans argued that merging similar programs and taking back unspent funds would help keep the cuts small, but the Biden administration says that the programs would wither away under Republican proposals.

“Virtually every (House Appropriations) bill has riders blocking the ability of the Biden administration to focus on social justice and diversity,” Charles Kieffer, a former Democratic budget and appropriations aide, told Reuters.

Congress passed a stopgap funding bill last November to avoid a shutdown that is set to expire Jan. 19. lawmakers are split on the next steps as deep divisions over spending persist.