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Trump Budget Cuts Hit Home in N.C.

Renewed concerns about the local impact of President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts and his attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act could affect some of Haywood County’s neediest — and smallest — residents.

“Obviously we don’t participate in what goes on with the Trump administration,” said Haywood County Board of County Commissioners Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick. “But what we have to do is react to the decisions that are made by the federal government.”

Those decisions have already sparked controversy throughout Southern Appalachia, a region so poverty-laden that myriad federal programs have been created to address basic economic needs over more than half a century.