Trump Preview Budget Revealed

President Trump has released his preliminary budget. The 62 page outline is called “America First – A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.”

You can find the entire document HERE

There are several budget items that could impact Colorado Springs, Southern Colorado, and military installations in our area.

There are also items that impact the Veterans Administration, FEMA funds for mitigation, and funding for rural airports.

ARMY/AIR FORCE

— Strengthens the U.S. Army by rebuilding readiness, reversing end strength reductions, and
preparing for future challenges. This Budget is an initial step toward restoring an Army that
has been stressed by high operational demand and constrained funding levels in recent years.

— Accelerates Air Force efforts to improve tactical air fleet readiness, ensure technical superiority,
and repair aging infrastructure. Key investments in maintenance capacity, training systems,
and additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters would enable the Air Force, which is now the smallest
it has been in history, to counter the growing number of complex threats from sophisticated state
actors and transnational terrorist groups.

VA ADMIN
— Ensures the Nation’s veterans receive high-quality health care and timely access to benefits
and services. An estimated 11 million veterans participate in VA programs. This Budget provides
the resources necessary to ensure veterans receive the care and support earned through
their service to the Nation.

— Provides a $4.6 billion increase in discretionary funding for VA health care to improve patient
access and timeliness of medical care services for over nine million enrolled veterans. This
funding would enable the Department to provide a broad range of primary care, specialized
care, and related medical and social support services to enrolled veterans, including services
that are uniquely related to veterans’ health and special needs.

— Extends and funds the Veterans Choice Program to ensure that every eligible veteran continues
to have the choice to seek care at VA or through a private provider. Without action, this critical
program will expire in August 2017, which would result in veterans having fewer choices of
where to receive care.

— Supports VA programs that provide services to homeless and at-risk veterans and their families
to help keep them safe and sheltered.

— Provides access to education benefits, enhanced services, and other programs to assist veterans’
transition to civilian life. VA partners with other agencies to provide critical training, support
services, and counseling throughout a veteran’s transition and their post-military career.
40 Department of Veterans Affairs

— Continues critical investments aimed at optimizing productivity and transforming VA’s claims
processes. Provides resources to reduce the time required to process and adjudicate veterans’
disability compensation claims.

— Invests in information technology to improve the efficiency and efficacy of VA services. Provides
sufficient funding for sustainment, development, and modernization initiatives that would improve
the quality of services provided to veterans and avoid the costs of maintaining outdated,
inefficient systems.

FEMA MONEY FOR MITIGATION

— Eliminates or reduces State and local grant funding by $667 million for programs administered
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that are either unauthorized by the
Congress, such as FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, or that must provide more
measurable results and ensure the Federal Government is not supplanting other stakeholders’
responsibilities, such as the Homeland Security Grant Program. For that reason, the Budget
also proposes establishing a 25 percent non-Federal cost match for FEMA preparedness grant
awards that currently require no cost match. This is the same cost-sharing approach as FEMA’s
disaster recovery grants. The activities and acquisitions funded through these grant programs
are primarily State and local functions.

*Colorado Springs applied for this grant last year: FEMA Pre Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Fiscal Year 2016: Sub-applications Identified for Further Review:

Colorado Springs Fire Department: Colorado Springs Wildfire Mitigation Project

Mitigating hazardous fuels in open spaces adjacent to neighborhood communities with wildfire risk. The work will consist of thinning dead and diseased trees and brush, removing oak brush and small diameter trees from under pines, pruning trees along trails and roads, and separating clumps of oak brush through thinning and removal.

AIRPORT FUNDING

Eliminates funding for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, which was originally conceived
of as a temporary program nearly 40 years ago to provide subsidized commercial air service
to rural airports. EAS flights are not full and have high subsidy costs per passenger. Several
EAS-eligible communities are relatively close to major airports, and communities that have
EAS could be served by other existing modes of transportation. This proposal would result in a
discretionary savings of $175 million from the 2017 annualized CR level.