Black Americans would feel the sting of Republican budget cut proposals

When Charla Plaines saw the toll lead paint took on her granddaughter, she was able to get the hazardous substance scrubbed from her home thanks to a federally funded program that Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives want to cut.

Black Americans, including Plaines, a 66-year-old grandmother in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, would be disproportionately hit by this and many other cuts lawmakers are pushing as Congress faces a government shutdown deadline this month.

No amount of lead is considered safe, but tests showed Plaines’ now-11-year-old granddaughter, Loyalty Johnson, suffered significant developmental delays from a substantially elevated blood level above the threshold set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A 2020 study published by the National Institutes of Health found Black children had 2.8 times higher odds of elevated blood lead levels compared with white and Hispanic children.

As she prepared for a great-grandchild also spending time at her home, Plaines in 2022 had $15,000 worth of lead-contaminated doors, window frames and other materials removed, financed by a 30-year-old U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program.

The program is one of many targeted by House Republicans’ belt-tightening campaign, which comes amid high budget deficits that are the result of Republican and Democratic policies.