How Billionaires are Harming Ohioans While Giving Themselves Tax Breaks

Columbus, Ohio - Over the past months, Ohioans have been forced to contend with a never-ending barrage of bad news from Washington while their jobs, education, and more are on the line. Here’s a recap of just a few ways Washington billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have harmed Ohio families while cutting taxes for fellow billionaires. 

Donald Trump issued an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education while Governor DeWine cheered.  Now, Ohio is in danger of losing billions in funding, disproportionately harming low-income students.

• The Department of Education allocates funds to Title One schools, which have the highest numbers of low-income students. Ohio educated over 800,000 students with these funds. For Ohio’s low-income students, these funds help pave the path to a brighter future for themselves and our state. Their state’s elected officials would rather score points with Donald Trump than grow the next generation of Ohio’s leaders. 
• Columbus Dispatch: Ohio could lose more than $5 billion in annual funding it receives from the U.S. Department of Education after Donald Trump signed an executive order to close the department.

As costs continue to rise, billionaires are cancelling programs that fed hungry Ohioans and boosted Ohio farmers. 

• Hungry Ohio families have been left scrambling to find assistance after billionaires eliminated funding for organizations that feed hungry Ohioans. While families face even more uncertainty about whether or not they can put food on the table, Republicans would rather see lower bills for billionaires.
• NBC4: Food banks and farms are facing challenges after the U.S. Department of Agriculture eliminated key funding programs as the Trump Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said they are slashing federal spending to reduce government waste.  The move cuts about $420 million for the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement, a program that helped feed hungry people with high-quality Ohio-grown products. 

While billionaires brag about their own tax breaks, they’re putting Ohioans in danger.

• Donald Trump and Elon Musk have gutted critical staff and resources that monitor environmental conditions and watch for potential hazards in the Great Lakes. Almost three million Ohioans rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water. Now, Republicans have cut critical safety measures to keep their water safe.
• ProPublica: Cutbacks have gutted the staff at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. […] Multiple people who have worked with the lab also told ProPublica that there are serious gaps in this year’s monitoring of algal blooms, which are often caused by excess nutrient runoff from farms. […] That data has helped to successfully avoid a repeat of a 2014 crisis in Toledo, Ohio, when nearly half a million people were warned to not drink the water or even touch it.