Many Trump voters would feel program cuts in budget proposal
WASHINGTON — The closure of a regional airport could force residents of a small town in upper Michigan to drive eight hours to catch a flight. The elimination of funding to keep the Great Lakes clean could hurt business at a waterside Ohio boating club. Cuts to the nation’s flood insurance program could mean greater losses after a storm for homeowners on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
In his first budget blueprint since taking office, President Donald Trump held to his promise to build up the U.S. military while slashing domestic spending — even for programs that benefit the rural and lower-income Americans who voted for him last November.
“Some people might think it’s a betrayal,” said Eric Waara, the Republican city manager of the 7,000-person town of Houghton on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, who said he hoped the proposal was just a negotiating tactic. “I think that we all hope it’s the first small step until something better.”
Houghton sits more than 200 miles from a major highway and for many residents the Houghton County Memorial Airport is their connection to the outside world. Trump’s proposed elimination of the Transportation Department’s Essential Air Service program, or EAS, could force the airport to close or dramatically curtail service, leaving residents with a four-hour drive to Green Bay, Wisconsin, or eight hours to Chicago to catch a flight, Waara said. The administration said it would save $175 million a year.