INSTITUTE INDEX: Trump budget cuts economic development funds to the South's most distressed regions
The map at left shows the area covered by the Appalachian Regional Commission, while the one at right shows that covered by the Delta Regional Authority, both of which are targeted for elimination by Trump's proposed budget. The counties in red are those deemed economically distressed. (Maps from the ARC and the DRA websites.)
Rank of Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta among the poorest regions in the South: 1
Year in which Congress created the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to promote economic development in the 13 states of Appalachia stretching from Mississippi to New York and encompassing parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia in the South: 1965
Federal funding provided to the ARC in fiscal year 2016: $146 million
Amount that ARC in partnership with states and local development districts invested in more than 600 projects between October 2015 and January 2017: $175.7 million
Amount in private investment that public spending will leverage: $443.3 million
Number of jobs it will create or retain: 23,670
For every $1 it spends, amount in private investment the ARC brings in from companies and nonprofits: $8
Year in which Congress created the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), which promotes economic development in parts of eight states including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee in the South: 2000
Federal funding provided to the DRA in the last budget: $45 million
Since its creation, amount DRA has invested in projects throughout the Mississippi Delta region: $163 million
Amount of investment the DRA has brought to the South's Black Belt alone: $71.5 million
Total amount in public and private investments DRA spending has leveraged since its founding: $3.3 billion
Number of jobs it's created: more than 26,000
Amount Republican President Donald Trump's proposed budget would provide to the ARC and DRA in fiscal year 2018: $0
Percent of the federal budget the two programs together represent: 0.005
Total amount Trump would cut from non-defense discretionary spending in fiscal year 2018, shifting that money to defense: $54 billion
Number of jobs created for every $1 billion spent on the military: 11,200
Number of jobs created by the same amount spent on clean energy, health care and education, respectively: 16,800, 17,200 and 26,700
In the almost 700 economically distressed counties covered by the ARC, DRA and the Northern Border Regional Commission in New England, percentage points by which Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton: 26
Date on which Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney said on MSNBC that "folks who voted for the president are getting exactly what they voted for": 3/16/2017
Number of days later that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he would not allow any cuts to the ARC because it is too important to his state: 2
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.