Shomari Figures: Trump budget bill will hurt Alabama

U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, said Wednesday the tax-and-spending bill passed by Congress would increase food insecurity and make it harder for people to access education and health care.

“We are being hit particularly hard with the provisions in the reconciliation bill, the big bill that recently passed where most of the tax benefits go to the class that is the richest as opposed to the class that is the biggest,” Figures said in a press conference after speaking to the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning. “We are seeing efforts to cut programs that are going to impact the state of Alabama uniquely, whether that is SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, whether that is Medicaid, whether that is student loan caps that have now been imposed.”

The legislation allocates hundreds of billions of dollars for immigration enforcement, extends tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy and cuts social safety net programs for low-income households. The bill increased the administrative costs borne by states for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income households buy food.  The reconciliation bill also targets Medicaid by expanding the monthly work requirement to a greater number of classes for enrollees.

The bill also imposes a lifetime limit on the amount of loans that students may receive. According to the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit that seeks to make college more affordable, the bill limits the annual loan amount for graduate students to $20,500 and places a lifetime limit of $100,000. The budget bill also places a $50,000 cap on the amount that professional students may borrow each year and a lifetime limit of $200,000.

“The caps are lower than the average cost of the degrees,” Figures said during his speech. “What that means is there will be fewer people in Alabama who are able to go on and be doctors, who are able to go on and be lawyers.”

Figures also told attendees about initiatives he is supporting to enhance the health care infrastructure, particularly rural areas, by stemming the tide of hospital closures.

Figures said he introduced the Rural Hospital Stabilization Act, which would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to hospitals in rural areas to provide services. Hospitals, for example, may use the grants to recruit staff or pay for new equipment.

He also said he is supporting efforts to allow municipalities to bypass the state to expand Medicaid.

“No one wants to move a business into a community that does not have a hospital,” Figures said. “No one wants to retire into a community that does not have hospitals or adequate access to health care. No business wants to move operations there. We have to be serious about addressing health care in the state of Alabama.”

Correction: An earlier version misstated that Shomari Figures supports the Rural Hospital Stabilization Act. He introduced it.