By DEBORAH E. LANS
HUDSON–As The Columbia Paper set out to assess the effects of the Trump Administration’s activities on Columbia County the task took on the feeling of watching the first act of a painfully suspenseful horror movie. We are being teased (not in a pleasant way) with possibilities, questions without answers.
ACT I
Scene 1. Hudson. The Columbia-Greene Addiction Coalition, a small non-profit that coordinates activities around substance use disorders and provides advocacy and education. Some 50% of the coalition’s budget is federally-funded. The date is January 29.
Unsigned letters arrive via email from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The emails refer to grants the coalition had previously been awarded. Each email states that it is implementing an Executive Order signed by President Trump on Inauguration Day, orders with the head-spinning names: “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” and “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”
The emails contain identical mandates: “You must immediately terminate, to the maximum extent, all programs, personnel, activities or contracts” promoting, in one case, DEI and, in the other “gender ideology” “at every level and activity…Any vestige, remnant, or renamed piece of any [DEI or gender ideology] programs funded by the U.S. government under this award are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated.”
The coalition executive director shivers and ponders what she must do. Must she terminate employees? Programs? The funds in question are the subjects of federal contracts. What is the meaning of a contract?
Moreover, the Executive Orders seem unrelated to the work of the coalition, albeit the grants were made under rubrics related to DEI. The “Defending Women” order states its purpose is to base federal policy “on truth” by turning back an “ongoing and purposeful attack against the ordinary and longstanding use and understanding of biological terms” and to “defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience…” The DEI order calls DEI programs “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” that have infiltrated every aspect of government. It proclaims: “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect…”
Columbia and Greene counties have high levels of addiction and related overdoses and deaths. The coalition works to bring together resources to mitigate the harm of substance use disorders. Isn’t its work based on science, truth and respect for the individuals and families affected?
Scene 2. Hudson. The Columbia-Greene Addiction Coalition. Early February 2025.
The coalition receives a “Notice of Court Order” and a copy of a Temporary Restraining Order issued by a federal court in Rhode Island in an action brought by New York and 21 other states.
At its heart, the order declares that “Federal agencies cannot pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel or terminate any awards or obligations” on the basis of the recent Executive Orders. For now, the coalition’s funding remains intact. But for how long?
Claire Cousins, assistant director of the coalition, says the uncertainty makes every day’s work harder. The coalition simply wants to care for people, regardless of politics, but must its employees now consider what others are thinking of them? Must they weigh their every word?
Scene 3. The Human Services Committee of the County Board of Supervisors. March 18.
The National Association of Counties (NAC), and many other sources, have warned that Congress cannot implement its budget, including proposed tax cuts, without deeply affecting Medicaid spending. “Medicaid accounts for over half of all federal funds to states and is the largest source of federal funding for state budgets, making it essential to states’ ability to design and administer healthcare programs that meet the unique needs of their populations,” according to NAC.
A study by Georgetown University of “Medicaid’s Role in Small Towns and Rural Areas” posits that the cuts may equate to nearly one-third of all Medicaid spending. Cuts that deep would have a crippling impact on rural communities where a higher share of residents are covered by Medicaid. Such counties also “face greater challenges in their health ecosystems as their residents have higher rates of chronic diseases, hospitals are operating on tighter margins, and provider shortages are more acute.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation has estimated that the likely effect of the cuts on New York State could be $48 billion/year. Could the state absorb the loss fully or would counties be expected to chip in?
In response to the uncertainties swirling around the Medicaid program, a resolution is proposed and passed by the committee. It will be taken up by the county’s Finance Committee and then be considered by the Board of Supervisors as a whole on April 9. Concerning healthcare it recites that: “31.7% of Columbia County residents get their healthcare through Medicaid, 41.6% of the children in the county…Columbia Memorial Hospital is the only hospital in the county and the county’s largest employer – 63% of patient service revenue at this hospital comes from Medicare and Medicaid – and a decrease in Medicaid eligibility would hinder the hospital’s ability to effectively serve our community and jeopardize the number and safety of local healthcare professionals.”
According to Supervisor Michael Chameides (Hudson, 3rd Ward) among the potential changes to the Medicaid rules is a work requirement. Numerous studies have shown that most Medicaid recipients already either work or suffer disabilities that preclude them from working. Does it make sense, for example, to require a person in rehab for substance abuse or hospitalized for recovery from a mental health crisis to work?
Work requirements or eligibility changes could cause the county to lose significant funding. The county budget of $179 million has “very little wiggle room.” A loss of even $1 million in funding would be very challenging to absorb.
The proposed resolution urges the state’s Congressional delegation to oppose Medicaid cuts (among other things; see also, Scene 5).
Scene 4. Various locations within the county. March 11. Four local officials sign on to a “Friend of the Court” brief submitted by local governments and officials from around the country. The brief is filed in an action brought in a federal court in San Francisco by various federal, state and local employee unions to reinstate terminated probationary employees at six federal agencies. On March 13, the district judge orders the agencies (the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense and Treasury departments) to reinstate the employees. Joining in the brief were supervisors Richard T. Wolf (Copake); D. Michael Dvorchak (Hillsdale); Tistrya Houghtling (New Lebanon); and Mr. Chameides.
Scene 5. Hudson. The Department of Social Services. March 21. An interview with Commissioner Robert Gibson.
“Everyone is living in a state of anxiety and speculation. What ifs. What if Medicaid is cut? The county is currently responsible to pay out $207,000 every week – which will rise to $211,000/week in April.” If the federal government reduces what it pays, how will the state or county make up the gap?
And what about other key programs, like SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)? The Urban Institute released a study on March 6, concluding that certain potential cuts to SNAP would mean that “families who receive SNAP benefits would have to cut back on the amount of food they eat or turn to cheaper, less healthy options.” The study concludes: “Cutting funding to SNAP has clear consequences: more hunger and more poverty nationwide.”
While benefits are measured by family size, among other things, the Urban Institute study calculates that one proposed reduction would cut the per meal maximum benefit to $2.23. The study estimates that the cost of a meal in Columbia County is $3.67. Multiply the per meal shortfall of $1.44 times three meals for a 30 day month and a family could be out hundreds of dollars every month, just for food – ignoring other increasing costs, such as for healthcare. Moreover, food banks have already seen their federal funding cut. How will the county fight hunger among its citizens?
Commissioner Gibson is not only concerned about the possible effects of cuts. He worries about the effects of the high level of anxiety he sees most everyone experiencing – at levels akin to those during the Covid crisis.
He also laments the federal government’s process as it has played out to date: shouldn’t the federal government bring the states and counties into the discussion about cuts to understand the effects of their actions on communities, hearing directly from those closest to the ground? While cuts may well be appropriate, without dialogue the federal government cannot fully understand the impact of its actions and local administrators are robbed of the ability to plan.
Moreover, those caseworkers who work at DSS meeting with applicants and making eligibility and other determinations live with ever-shifting and uncertain parameters. Is someone qualified for SNAP today but not tomorrow? Are funds flowing now?
The proposed county resolution would also call on the Congressional delegation to resist cuts to SNAP and other essential programs.
Scene 6. Countywide, at libraries. March 14. The President has just signed an Executive Order calling for the elimination of seven agencies including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides funds directly to libraries and also indirectly provides funds for state agencies to distribute to local institutions.
Four days later the Executive Director of the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) writes constituents urging them to contact federal legislators to oppose the de-funding, which could account for as much as 80% of MHLS’s budget. Libraries provide safe havens, educate children, offer computers to those lacking them, and serve as community hubs. Can they survive the cuts?
(For more on libraries, see “Patrons go for library’s digital resources big time” on page A1 and the Letter to Editor on page A11.)
Scene 7. Countywide. January 22. The administration withdraws a Biden Administration Plan that would have limited the amount of PFAS chemicals that industry can release. PFAS have been linked with a number of diseases, including cancer, and are known as “forever” chemicals because they linger in water and the human body.
Scene 8. Albany and thence countywide. March 2025. The National Weather Service announces the suspension of weather balloon launches in a number of sites, including Albany, because of a lack of staffing. The prior month, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which runs the weather service discharged 800 workers. In March, another 1,000 were laid off. Twenty-five percent of the Albany station’s slots for meteorologists are vacant. Reports say that without the data the balloons capture, local forecasts are likely to become less reliable, causing difficulties for industries, like agriculture, that rely on such data.
“Everyone is living in a state of anxiety and speculation.”
–County Dept of Social Services Commissioner Robert Gibson
This is yet another blow for local farmers. Federal funding for several programs that pay for schools, food banks and other groups to buy food from local farmers have also just been cut.
Scene 9. Hudson. Habitat for Humanity of Columbia and Greene Counties has learned that funding for the direct mortgage program it relies on to provide subsidized mortgages for the families who buy Habitat’s (and other organizations’) affordable and workforce housing has been exhausted and the availability of future funds is, according to Executive Director Al Bellenchia, “very uncertain.” Likewise in limbo are federally-funded grant and loan programs used for new construction, repair and other homeowner services.
Scene 10. Kinderhook. The Martin Van Buren National Historic Site (MVB). February 2025. The National Park Service has lost some 1,000 employees due to DOGE cuts. The site manager at the MVB site declines to answer how the site might be affected by the cuts, writing, “Because this is a national level issue, it requires a national response.” That national response, received by The Columbia Paper via email, reads: “The National Park Service is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.”
Scene 11. Everywhere. Pending.
The rosy flip side of administration activity is promised tax cuts. The specifics of those cuts is as yet unclear. The recently passed House Budget Resolution (a) caps the amount of revenue that can be “lost” by virtue of tax cuts at $4.5 trillion between fiscal years 2025 and 2034, (b) requires $2 trillion in spending cuts over that same time, (c) mandates $300 million in specific spending increases and (d) limits the increase in the deficit to $2.8 trillion. The Senate has yet to weigh in.
The non-profit Yale University Budget Lab, in assessing paths by which the House mandates could be achieved, has posited that a 30% cut in federal SNAP spending and a 15% cut in Medicaid costs, among other things, would be necessary. A Penn Wharton Budget Model assumes similarly deep cuts in those programs.
Their analyses show somewhat different levels of tax benefit across the spectrum of incomes but a consistent theme: the lowest earning levels receive either little or no benefit from tax cuts, while the top 10% receives the lion’s share. According to the Penn Wharton study, the top 10% of income levels would receive 56% of the benefit. Put another way, “Even with economic growth, lower income households are worse off if mandatory spending cuts, still to be decided under budget reconciliation, are allocated to programs like Medicaid and SNAP.”
Of course, many variables play into any such analysis and the details of the eventual budget may somewhat change the figures. Nevertheless, given that median household income in Columbia County is $81,741, in rough numbers, about half of local households are unlikely to see any good come from the plan: their federal taxes will either increase or decrease but only slightly in either direction. Moreover, those same families will also be the most hurt by reductions in Medicare, SNAP and other funding.
This was a very long Act 1, and its most consistent theme is uncertainty. Other acts will follow and the paper will follow them.
To contact reporter Deborah Lans, email deborahlans@icloud.com.
See story on the impact of tariffs on local farmers on page B8.
