Letter to the Editor: Submitted by Ann Fields

To the Editor:

Elon Musk and Donald Trump, through the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, have initiated deep budget cuts, including:
· Department of Education lost half of its staff or 1,300 positions
· Department of Veterans Affairs cut 20,000 positions
· Department of Health and Human Services (including Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Meals on Wheels, and AmeriCorps, to name a few of its programs) lost 20,000 positions.

What do budget cuts mean? Budget cuts mean eliminating services for the average citizen.

Cutting the Department of Education means:
· Fewer people to administer student aid grants for average-income students (not hurting higher income students who don’t qualify)
· Fewer services for disabled students who need additional help (again not hurting higher income citizens who can provide for themselves)
· Less tracking of student achievement per schools (meaning less help for lower-income schools).

Cutting the Department of Veterans Affairs means:
· Fewer staff to schedule appointments
· Fewer doctors to treat our veterans medical issues
· Fewer dollars to provide nursing home care for our veterans.

Cutting the Department of Health and Human Services means:
· Cutting Medicaid which services the elderly (nursing home care), the disabled, and the people living on minimum wage
· Cutting Meals on Wheels which provides nutritious meals to the elderly
· Cutting AmeriCorps means less help for people finding jobs, responses to disasters, and protecting clean air and water.

The rich can afford to provide for their own services; however, these budget cuts are detrimental to everyday Americans - that’s right, you and me living in northeast Iowa. We will get fewer services and the rich will pay less taxes.

Ann Fields
Lansing