Mayor Chris Coleman today (March 16, 2017) released the following statement in response to President Trump's proposed budget for 2018:
“President Trump's budget is not only an attack on Saint Paul's bottom line, it is an attack on our values. Trump wants to eliminate the Saint Paul VISTA program, which has recruited and supported more than 30,000 community volunteers to provide more than 465,000 hours of service to low-income students and families. Trump's elimination of this program will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable communities here in Saint Paul and across the state.
"Trump also wants to eliminate the Community Development Block Grants that are critical to supporting affordable and low-income housing options and supportive programs for the disabled and elderly such as Meals on Wheels. CDBG also supports job-training programs like Right Track, which helps disadvantaged high school kids develop job skills through paid internships. Through Right Track, these young people get the chance to work with groups like the Boys and Girls Club, Saint Paul Public Libraries and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Why would anyone want to cut off our ability to build a strong future workforce while supporting our youth and their families?
"There are other reprehensible cuts in Trump's budget that we are in the process of examining. At its heart, it is an outrageous assault on basic fairness. I urge Congress to pass a fair budget that protects working families everywhere. President Trump's budget will hurt real people and that's not reality TV - it's reality.”