Keller: Looking at the Massachusetts people and projects impacted by federal funding cuts
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey's administration has created an online dashboard of federal funding cuts affecting state programs.
Massachusetts programs impacted by federal cuts
But there are human stories behind the raw numbers, like that of Yessenia Torres of Springfield, whose two young daughters have asthma. But they're no longer struggling to breathe thanks to a state program that removed the mold from their home. However, that program has now been cut, as has money from COVID recovery funds that had been slated for a new multi-million-dollar community health center based at New Bedford High School.
"Primary care, immunizations, chronic disease management, mental health services, and it's all gonna happen on New Bedford High's campus," said nurse practitioner Alex Weiner, a New Bedford High grad who's been part of a group pushing for the facility for years.
Studies show school-based health centers have had great success reaching patients who might have difficulty traveling to or finding time for medical care. But in a post on "X" justifying the cut, the federal Department of Education mocked the New Bedford plan, writing: "ED will consider all appeals for funding that are directly related to students' COVID learning loss recovery. MA even states in their own press release they want this money for BUILDINGS, not learning recovery."
"I think this was one of the most forward-thinking uses of COVID relief money," said Weiner.
And good luck to the Chelsea businesses like the New England Produce Center that have to deal with significant flooding all too often. Federal defunding of the Island End River Flood Barrier Project jeopardizes more than $7 billion worth of economic activity and the safety of thousands of residents, according to Chelsea officials.
Is there wasteful government spending?
Of course there is. But when you're cutting in haste with a chainsaw, can it be a surprise that mistakes are made and people are hurt?
"Health and Human Services in the state affects one in three people across the Commonwealth," noted state Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh. "So these cuts will hurt people in your family, your neighbors, your elderly parents. These cuts are hitting human beings."
"I think a lot of the cuts we're seeing at the federal level are indiscriminate. They're algorithmic," said Weiner. "This was about people. If any human evaluated this project and sat down and looked at the numbers and looked at the research, how could they say no to this?"
So where is all this headed? It looks like that will be up to the courts in the short term - that New Bedford High health center cut is part of an ongoing lawsuit, for instance.
But right now Congress is wrestling with proposed cuts that have aroused bipartisan protest. How that battle comes out will help tell us what government will and won't be able to help people with going forward.
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