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Trump Tried to Cut Baltimore’s Federal Rat Control Funding Before Calling It a ‘Rodent Infested Mess’

The White House proposed to cut funding for the city’s public housing rat-extermination program in March.

The Trump administration attempted to cut funding for Baltimore’s rat extermination program in public housing right before President Trump called parts of the city “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” The Baltimore Sun reports the White House proposed to cut funding for the city’s public housing rat-extermination program in March by eliminating the Community Development Block Grant. Four months later, Trump tweeted that “no human being would want to live” in Rep. Elijah Cummings’ “dangerous and filthy” district. Baltimore’s rat program, the Healthy Elimination of All Pests Longterm, has decreased burrows in the city’s public housing from 1,836 in 2017 when the program began, to 143 at the end of July when Trump tweeted, the Sun reports. The grant fund is set to remain in effect pending U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approval, after Congress passed the appropriations bill this summer.