Republicans’ Callous Actions Undermine SNAP While Harming New Yorkers in Need
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP, is the largest and most effective hunger prevention program in the United States. In New York State, nearly 3 million people, most of whom are children, older adults, or individuals with disabilities, depend on SNAP benefits to put food on the table and make ends meet each month.
For the entirety of the program’s existence, the federal government has funded these benefits, receiving support from presidents of both parties and in Congress. Until now.
The recently-passed GOP reconciliation bill cruelly slashes SNAP in ways that were previously unthinkable under any administration and requires states to contribute funds to the program that they simply do not have. Pushing exorbitant, unsustainable costs onto states will force states across the country to consider whether they can afford to maintain the program at its current levels or even at all, threatening the assistance that millions of Americans rely on to feed their families. In New York, for example, the state is facing up to $1.4 billion in new costs each year.
This action by the federal GOP will likely lead to limited benefit access, reduced benefit amounts, the loss of benefits altogether in some instances, or cuts to other programs. Across the country, in blue and red states alike, hunger and poverty will increase, and the health of children and adults will suffer.
These outcomes are not accidental. We know this because Republicans in Washington are also imposing new punitive requirements on SNAP recipients that will make it harder for people to qualify for assistance – despite being poor enough to meet income requirements and needing assistance to afford food. To receive SNAP, New Yorkers will need to comply with administratively complex work reporting requirements without receiving any additional support in doing so. As a result, 300,000 households may lose benefits, with an average loss of $220/month, devastating families’ grocery budgets, making it harder for them to achieve financial stability, and jeopardizing their well-being.
States will also lose their long-held flexibility to account for certain individual circumstances in offering SNAP assistance, such as in rural areas facing economic hardship where job opportunities may not be available. If you are struggling to put enough food on the table and also struggling to find gainful employment, Republicans in Washington, including seven representing New York State, say you are on your own.
In addition to current recipients losing benefits, these more restrictive work requirements will discourage eligible people from applying due to the burden of pointless and overwhelming administrative work. Furthermore, for those who do apply, the changes will impose new and unnecessary costs and challenges on the counties and New York City that administer the program in New York.
Beyond worsening food insecurity and malnutrition at a time when the cost of living is sky high and families everywhere are struggling with an affordability crisis, cuts to the program would hurt local businesses and weaken SNAP’s ability to boost local economies in every state. Slashing families’ grocery budgets would reduce revenue for the more than 18,000 businesses and retailers that accept SNAP – from grocery stores and local shops to hundreds of local farmers, farmers’ markets, and farm stands. Food banks, which are already stretched thin and facing further federal cuts by the Trump Administration, will not be able to fill the gap and meet the scale of need created by these cuts – they do not have enough food or operational capability.
This senseless, callous bill would not have passed without the support of each of New York’s seven Republican House members. They voted explicitly and knowingly for a bill that will take money away from families, local governments, counties, and states, making it harder for low-income New Yorkers to afford groceries and worsening food insecurity and economic hardship across urban, suburban, and rural communities.
Republicans have tried to disguise their historic SNAP cuts as efforts to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. Nothing could be further from the truth. The gutting of SNAP and other vital, longstanding public safety net programs is part of President Trump and Republicans’ effort to fund tax cuts for the richest Americans, with no regard for the devastating impact their choices will have on Americans and New Yorkers in need.
This is the Trump agenda – less services and support when you need it, while giving more money to the country’s richest people who don’t. Make no mistake – weakening SNAP will harm millions of Americans and pass more costs onto families, communities, and states that we cannot afford. The Trump Administration and the New York Republicans who rubberstamped this depravity must reverse course and ensure that SNAP can continue to fulfill its mission as our nation’s most effective tool to reduce hunger and food insecurity.
Barbara C. Guinn is Commissioner of the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which oversees SNAP. NYS Senator Roxanne J. Persaud represents the 19th District in Brooklyn and Queens and serves as Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Services.
