On Tuesday, November 5th, President Trump won the 2024 presidential race by a significant margin.
Regardless of your political views we can all agree the climate and lower income projects were at the back of the Trump administrations mind. Now that he is back in office, what is this going to mean for us on a local level?
Montana James, Director of Community Development for the City of Missoula may hold some of those answers.
James stated that it is a lot of it is speculation so far, but that they are bracing for a cut in the fair housing programs and clean energy programs, and getting ready to possibly see a cut in all clean energy funding.
James stated that it will take a little longer to see a measurable effect in Missoula, but we can expect to see, “projects on hold if we can’t find funding resources… it will probably look like us scrounging around for funding”.
These projects are essential to the progress Missoula has made. Cutting funding will set Missoula back on all the programs they had plans for.
In Missoula specifically we prioritize our climate, because it is essential to our favorite activities such as skiing, hiking, and floating the river.
Although none of the progress made in the last few years will disappear, we can see that all the careful planning that has caused so much work for so many people could go to waste.
James stated, “Progress on all of these issues is really slow”, but will be slower yet without the necessary resources.
What DC has failed to acknowledge is that their funding cuts actually affect people at the local level.
Not only will this affect progress made on a local level though. James stated that, “We did see in the prior Trump administration that a lot of our federal agencies … the agencies got a lot more dysfunctional, they got a lot less responsive, they lost a lot of staff.”
This loss of productivity on a high level will trickle down to affect us here in missoula.
James stated that ultimately, “We are just more on our own at the local level without that national support.”
Being alone isn’t always bad, but when you depend on the federal government to fund the very things you find important, it can be a detrimental occurrence.
It is all up in the air at the moment, but what is not uncertain is that we will see change, in some way or another.
