If it’s passed as written, the Administration’s current federal budget proposal would take a dramatic toll on some very important lifelines in rural America. That’s the word from Tom Bliss, the Executive Director of the Mo-Kan Regional Council, a group that assists communities with grant support for large infrastructure projects.

The budget would end the support we get from USDA Rural Development, Community Development Block Grants and the Economic Development Administration.

The loss would have a substantial impact, not so much on his organization but on the region as a whole, Bliss said. “In particular the Community Development Block Grant, or CDGB, is one of the few tools that small towns and rural counties have to make infrastructure improvements.”

Bliss said over the last few years, CDGB funding has helped pay for a myriad of projects in small towns and counties across the region, from new elevators at the courthouses in Andrew and Clinton County, Missouri, and in Atchison County, Missouri. It helped bring a new water tower and brand new water pipes to Maysville, new streets to Stewartsville, a wastewater project to Osborn, Early-Learning Childhood Center in Savannah and a Head Start in Cameron.

This is one of the few federal programs where you actually see your federal tax dollars come back to your town, Bliss said, and they impact you on a daily basis.

“Every time someone turns on their tap in Maysville, Missouri, their federal tax dollars are being brought back to their town,” Bliss said. “Every time someone drives to the school in Stewartsville, their tax dollars are being brought back to their town to improve their quality of life.”

Every state has this block-grant program, and Bliss said every state utilizes it in different ways.

“For instance, in Nebraska they use it to build entry-level homes, to improve downtown sidewalks and streets, and roads, and waste-water systems, to build water towers,” he said.

“These are the types of things that rural America needs to survive.”

Bliss insists that such federal funding is not a handout. Typically these grant projects are bundled with long-term loans or some other sort of financing.

“They give to the point where it hurts in some of these small towns,” Bliss said, “so, it’s not a handout, it’s a way to close the financing gap on critical infrastructure projects.”

The budget proposal announced last week traded a $54 billion boost for the military for dramatic cuts to domestic programs like medical research, community development, foreign aid, and a slew of other programs.