Deborah M. Meder

Lock Haven

I, along with three other women, recently met with representatives of US Representative GT Thompson and US Senator David McCormick. We wanted to express our concerns about the House’s proposed budget, a resolution that directs massive cuts in social service budgets to fund a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is being asked to make $880 billion in budget cuts over the next ten years to many programs under the committee’s jurisdiction, one of which is Medicaid — a health care program overseen by the federal government but managed by states. In Pennsylvania, Medicaid covers approximately 3 million people who live in every county in the Commonwealth — mainly children, people with disabilities, lower income adults and older adults.

Clinton County has 9,068 people on Medicaid, which is 24% of our population. 3,549 of those are under the age of 21, which is 35% of the population under 21 (from www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/data-reports.html)

SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is part of the Agricultural budget, which House Republicans are targeting for a $230 billion cut in spending. GT Thompson has told national news media that SNAP will be safe, but large cuts seem impossible without impacting these benefits.

In Clinton County, 6,055 people are enrolled in SNAP, which is 16% of the population. 2,055 of that number are under 21, which is 36% of our population under 21 (from www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/data-reports.html)

Veterans are also being impacted by the massive cuts being made. The Veterans Administration has lost 2400 employees in the last month — and 25% of the total federal workforce are veterans. Services are being reduced. Clinton County has the largest number of veterans of any county in Pennsylvania, but they must travel to Williamsport or Altoona for VA Care.

We did not meet to share our own stories, but to point out the large impact that these cuts will have on our county, especially those who have the least. This is a non-partisan issue in our view — the federal government needs to serve our veterans, our children, the disabled, the needy and the elderly.