A proposal to notify more than 1 million San Diego County residents about potential federal funding cuts failed to advance Tuesday after an increasingly common tie vote.
But it also made plain the fissure on the Board of Supervisors as the panel waits for the April special election to fill the seat left vacant by Nora Vargas.
The discussion at times became tense among board members as they debated Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer’s request that the county’s chief administrative officer develop a plan to send a “notice of funding at risk” to all beneficiaries of federal funding programs – including contact information for the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk.
Monica Montgomery Steppe joined Lawson-Remer in votes in favor of the proposal, while Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond opposed the plan.
Though board seats are officially nonpartisan, the panel had a Democratic majority until Vargas’ January departure, with Vargas, Lawson-Remer and Montgomery Steppe forming a one block and Anderson and Desmond another.
On Tuesday, Lawson-Remer accused Desmond of not wanting to inform people about federal benefit changes. He responded that he didn’t want her commentary on his statements. Some members of the audience booed the exchange.
Montgomery Steppe tried to play peacemaker more than once.
She first noted that she enjoys sitting next to Desmond on the dais, but attempted to clarify the board’s earlier discussion of his proposal to repeal a county policy on cooperation with federal agencies on immigration policy. She wanted to be sure people realized “it’s very clear the county doesn’t set immigration policy.”
Anderson, though, offered his own thoughts on that vote, making reference to apparent gamesmanship on Lawson-Remer’s part in her abstention regarding the immigration proposal, which rather than failing on a 2-2 tie, failed 2-1.
“I believe that’s why you abstained on the last vote, so that Desmond’s item couldn’t come back, which was very clever,” he said.
Lawson-Remer’s proposal on federal cuts, however, could automatically be an agenda item at the board’s April 8 meeting or later.
At that point, Montgomery Steppe tried to break the tension, suggesting a five-minute break.
“This is a lot,” she said. “Let’s work this out.”
Musk, the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO, at the behest of President Donald Trump, has been tasked with identifying and eliminating waste in government. Musk’s staff has spent the last few weeks slashing budgets across federal departments, leaving many employees out of work or facing uncertainty.
A total of 1.2 million people in San Diego County receive support from at least one federally-funded assistance program, including 400,000 for food assistance and nearly 900,000 people for healthcare coverage through Medi-Cal.
In the debate over the proposed notices, Montgomery Steppe said she had a different perspective, as one who received assistance earlier in her life. The uncertain landscape, she said, extends to county leaders who need to know more about what the budget will look like in the next fiscal year, and to residents, who might benefit from a list of resources to help if they are affected by benefit cuts.
Anderson, though, said Lawson-Remer’s proposal would be a departure from how the county has previously handled possible cuts. Further, Desmond added, it could cost $1 million for the county to send out mailers or flyers, though Lawson-Remer said that there are electronic notification options and she was not interested in a plan that would prove so expensive.
Desmond said he didn’t think the county has a role in terms of informing people about federal benefit changes.
“Federal government has a lane and we have a lane,” he said.
In a statement following the vote, Lawson-Remer said that “refusing to inform local residents about these unpopular cuts to critical programs will only worsen the impacts of these cuts.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
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