Houston Activists and Organizations Warn Trump Budget Cuts Could Kill Senior Citizens

HOUSTON, TX — A group of activists, politicians, and leaders of area charitable organizations met on Sunday to protest proposed budgets cut put forth by the Trump administration last week.

"If they come through and make these cuts, our seniors will starve," said Allison Booker-Brooks, CEO of the Houston YWCA. "This cannot happen and should not happen in America." The Houston YWCA is one of the groups that administers Meals on Wheels in the Houston area.

The meeting, held at the headquarters of Meals on Wheels, was attended by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat.

"We have reached a new low in America," Lee said, according to The Houston Chronicle. "Over my dead body are they going to take away from individuals who cannot speak for themselves."

Five organizations administer the Meals on Wheels program in the Houston area, including Interfaith Ministries. Martin Cominsky, the head of Interfaith Ministries, said his group serves hot meals daily to 4,018 senior citizens in the the Houston area, and maintains a waiting list that currently has 187 people on it. Of the $7 million his organization spends annually on Meals for Wheels, $4 million comes from federal funds.

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President Trump's "skinny budget" doesn't seek to directly cut funds from Meals on Wheels, because it is not a federal program. What the budget does propose is the elimination of community development block grants, which a portion of the nation's 5,000 Meal on Wheels programs rely on for funding.

Meals on Wheels America, the national group that represents programs throughout the U.S., said it was deluged with questions about the proposed funding cuts and could not respond to inquiries.

Jackson Lee said she would support moves by House Democrats and caucuses to come up with other budget proposals that could be inserted into a final federal budget.

– Image courtesy Meals on Wheels