Republican lawmakers are suggesting cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Project 2025, which President Trump is often associated with, also proposes significant rollbacks to SNAP.
Representative Jodey Arrington from Texas is leading the charge in SNAP reform. In Trump’s quest to reduce government spending, Politico reports that SNAP will be among the programs to suffer from budget cuts in a proposed ‘Spending Reform Options.’ If implemented, the program may receive a cut of $22 billion. In 2023 alone, the federal government spent a total of $112.8 billion on SNAP. Needless to say, the proposed slash is still a significant portion. In lieu of this, rumors are circulating that SNAP will be affected by a funding freeze.
Social media users were outraged. One X user wrote, “Congratulations, you MAGA morons—you’ve just shot yourselves in the foot.” They claimed that red states are the largest recipients of federal funds. While said in frustration, it’s not factually inaccurate. The majority of SNAP participants reside in states won by Trump during the 2024 presidential election.
White House denies SNAP freeze
Blood-boiling as the situation may be, the White House denied payment freezes to SNAP and other nutrition programs. According to Reuters, payments to individuals under SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) would not be affected. While this might be cause for celebration, it doesn’t mean that the budget cuts are off the table.
Project 2025 proposes several tweaks that can make it challenging for able-bodied people to receive waivers from SNAP. Additionally, there are fears of SNAP being radically altered by proposed cuts. Republicans may not eliminate the program, but underfunding it can compromise food assistance as a result. Regardless, the grant freeze for these federal programs is neither here nor there.
Published: Jan 29, 2025 5:25 AM UTC