Reflection: The 249th Fourth of July
Many of my friends have been experiencing a sense of despair around a holiday they once adored. This Fourth of July— marking 249 years without a monarch— is more bitter than sweet for many, as Manhattanites grapple with the devastating long-term effects that the Trump Administration’s newly passed budget bill will inflict upon our communities. Effects like:
Medicaid Cuts & Rural Hospital Closures
The Congressional Budget Office itself has estimated that 11.8 million Americans will lose access to healthcare coverage through Medicaid by 2034. In a joint letter to the Administration, Senators Edward Markey, Charles Schumer, Ron Wyden (Ranking Member, Committee on Finance), and Jeffrey Merkley (Ranking Member, Committee on Budget wrote:
“Enacting these drastic health care cuts that will kick millions of people off their health insurance coverage, rural hospitals will not get paid for the services they are required by law to provide to patients. […] these cuts will have devastating consequences for health outcomes and costs, jobs, and the economic success of rural communities […} Faced with additional cuts to their revenue, many rural hospitals may be forced to stop providing certain services, including obstetric, mental health, and emergency room care, may have to convert to clinics or standalone emergency centers, or close altogether. Rural hospitals are often the largest employers in rural communities, and when a rural hospital closes or scales back its services, communities are not only forced to grapple with losing access to health care, but also with job loss and the resulting financial insecurity.”
Of the 338 at-risk hospitals, 6 are in Kansas:
Centura Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital, Ulysses KS
UKHS Great Bend Campus, Great Bend KS
Kiowa County Memorial Hospital, Greensburg KS
Rush County Memorial Hospital, Lacrosse KS
Norton County Hospital, Norton KS
Great Plains of Smith Co. Inc., Smith Center KS
Learn more about rural hospitals here.
Our poverty rate in Riley County is 26.1%. The most recent data for Medicaid coverage is from 2023: overall, 16% of Riley County Residents receive Medicaid, and the breakdown by age is as follows:
33.7% of our children receive Medicaid or CHIP coverage
11.0% of our non-elderly adults receive Medicaid
11.3% of our seniors receive Medicaid
Knowing that, it is impossible to imagine a future where our neighbors and their families are not suffering as a result.
Deficit Increase & Neighbors’ Darkening Futures
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the budget bill would add $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit, debt which our descendants will have to pay off. The Administration is claiming a much smaller amount, but their methodology is one that has never been used before. Learn more under “Calculating the Deficit Impact” from this nonpartisan group.
These cuts will disproportionately harm working class and low income households, while disproportionately benefiting high-income households, according to the University of Pennsylvania Penn Wharton Budget Model:
“Households most affected by the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP — those in the bottom income quintile — experience the largest losses under this bill, averaging $27,500 in lifetime value for the working-age population. In contrast, working-age households in the top income quintile generally benefit from lower taxes, gaining an average of more than $65,000. Working-age households in the middle of the income distribution are largely unaffected, with an average lifetime gain of less than $500, as they face a chance of needing spending programs that have been reduced, but also benefit from some of the tax cuts.
“All future generations are projected to experience lifetime losses under the bill, ranging from $5,700 for high-income households to $22,000 for low-income households,” the PWBM found. “The losses for lower-income groups are primarily driven by a reduced social safety net and lower wages associated with a lower capital stock, while losses for top-income groups are entirely the result of lower wages.”
FEMA and NOAA’s Disbandment & Risks to Midwesterners
One month ago, the town of Grinnell, KS was partially destroyed by an EF-2 tornado, resulting in the City’s power grid going down entirely, 20 homes being utterly destroyed, and— miraculously— no major injuries or deaths. The lack of injuries was especially fortunate, as one of the two tornado sirens in town failed to alert citizens of the danger. Despite the devastation seen here in reporting by the Wichita Eagle, FEMA determined that the town did not qualify for aid. On the same day, Plevna, KS was also partially destroyed by a separate EF-2 tornado, a massive storm that was on the ground for over an hour as it snaked its way 30 miles and through multiple counties. FEMA declined to offer aid to either town or to Kansas.
This is not unique: Kentucky’s request for aid following devastating flooding in 8 counties was also denied, along with Washington State’s request for aid following a bomb cyclone . In June, President Trump announced that he intends to phase out FEMA entirely after this year’s hurricane season— a threat he began making in January and a promise of Project 2025— leaving states to fend for themselves. From the Associated Press:
Trump said Tuesday [June 10] he wants to “give out less money,” and to “give it out directly,” sidestepping FEMA programs. He said he did not know who would distribute the funds, saying they could come “from the president’s office” or DHS.
The President also indicated in September 2024 that he would withhold emergency assistance from states— like Kansas— which are governed by political opponents, and in January tried to use emergency relief funds to pressure California into implementing voter id laws before he would provide assistance for the Palisades wildfire (Source).
This has played out in real life, with the Associated Press reporting that states with Democratic governors receive 15% less aid per resident than states with Republican governors.
NOAA’s 2026 budget report, published Monday, June 30th, reveals cuts that will eliminate programs that forecast tornadoes and hurricanes; alert the public to deadly extreme weather; prepare counties for emergencies with disaster plans and implementation; and predict seasonal shifts that help farmers prepare for seasonal challenges like drought, temperature extremes, wildfire risks, and flooding.
Well, that was demoralizing. Where’s the hope?
It can be hard to celebrate knowing so many of our neighbors across the state, in Riley county, and here in city limits are at risk. Seemingly impossible to find a sense of patriotism for a country that is falling away from our long-held traditions of providing for one another, of supporting our neighbors— a country that is not coming together, but seemingly falling apart.
I want to be clear: cities and states will not be able to fill all of the gaps the losses in federal funding will inflict upon our residents. We will have to come together as a community to help each other through. City leaders will have to be bold, agile, willing to listen to those in need, capable of thinking outside the box, and able to forge alliances between local organizations to match neighbors’ needs with other neighbors’ abilities.
I am up for the challenge. And today, this is what keeps me going:
This poem helped me to reflect on hope, and reminded me that one of our greatest and most beautiful national symbols, the Statue of Liberty, is called “The Mother of Exiles.” She was named that before she was even fully built.
In 1886, France gifted the United States the Statue of Liberty to commemorate our abolishment of slavery and serve as a welcome to immigrants arriving in New York from overseas. Joseph Pulitzer himself took the lead on fundraising efforts and over 120,000 US Citizens generated $300,000 (equivalent to $10.25 million today) to build the pedestal upon which she stands on Liberty Island. American poet Emma Lazarus’s The New Colossus, which was written to aid fundraising efforts, is inscribed upon the pedestal. The poem gives us these most patriotic and famous lines,
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Statue of Liberty painting by local artist, Jacob Sanderson (L)
Not only is that name is inscribed upon her pedestal, it is also inscribed in the blood, sweat, and tears of both our ancestors— and our descendants.
I am reminded that we are called “The Free State” for a reason— that our Abolitionist founders prevailed over pro-slavery settlers, that 20,097 Union soldiers volunteered from Kansas— 3647 more than requested— and that fighting for what is moral and good is our legacy. And that I have the sacred duty and privilege of carrying the torch of their ideology, just as The Mother of Exiles raises the torch of welcome.
I did not live in the past my ancestors inhabited, and I cannot live in the future my descendants will forge after I am gone.
Yet by some miracle, I am here, now.
And in that I have found a sense of patriotism and comfort, for I can give my own blood, sweat, and tears in these precious years that I am alive to my neighbors and my country.
This gentle ballad helps me to hold both the fragility and temporary nature of my life at the same time I hold hope for what I can accomplish with it. The allusion to fireworks seems particularly fitting as I reflect on America’s 249th birthday.
I hope it helps you, too.