chopping block

Funding for top Trump administration priorities — like programs on autism, chronic disease, drug abuse and mental health — is also on the chopping block.

“That also indicates to me that I shouldn’t have been on the chopping block, but here I was,” the 28-year-old said.

Every time the city faces budget troubles, smaller departments are placed on the chopping block, with the mayor or council members looking to merge them with bigger agencies.

The mobilization is urgent as the National Endowment for the Arts may be next on the chopping block — its budget has been redirected away toward project that celebrate “America’s greatness.”

More than 7,000 of the agency's staffers are on the chopping block, further cutting a headcount that is already dozens of times lower than that of private insurers, O’Malley shared.