The Trump Administration, instead of accessing emergency funds, is stopping funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program provides food assistance for 42 million people across the U.S., about 1 in 8 Americans. Among them are almost 2 million people in Pennsylvania.
The Trump Administration is purposely harming United States citizens in its attempt to force Democratic Senators to vote the way President Trump wants. The letter posted on the U.S. Department of Agriculture reads: “Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 1. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.”
The letter is not true. Democrats want subsidies for Americans buying health insurance.
The Trump administration has rejected the idea of using $5 billion in contingency funds to keep food aid flowing, according to a Department of Agriculture memo that surfaced Friday. It is not the only program that helps feed low-income families that has been cut. Funding for The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), totaling $1 billion, has ended. Pennsylvania utilized both programs to increase funding for food banks.
Farmers who planned this year’s harvests and income around the agreement feel the impact of its abrupt cancellation. They have been left with very little time to secure alternative sales outlets. It is too late for them to plant other crops.
The history of helping struggling people is filled with government and charitable programs. But it wasn’t until the World War II draft that attention was paid to how poor nutrition harmed America and its National Security. From a 1944 report:
DR. PARRAN [Surgeon General]: …In connection with studies made for Selective Service, it was found that 70 percent of the children who had fair or poor nutrition 10 or 12 years ago were later unaccepted by Selective Service, while only 40 percent of those with a good nutritional background were rejected.
In 1964, the United States announced a “war on poverty.” One of the programs included is food stamps, now called SNAP. It was an attempt to help put food on the table for low-income families, reducing hunger and suffering, and ensuring that, as adults, these children would be able to be drafted and become productive citizens. Since then, it has both expanded and been cut, but never eliminated. In 1996, while Bill Clinton was President SNAP eliminated the eligibility of most legal immigrants for food stamps; and placed a time limit on food stamp receipt of three out of 36 months for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) who are not working at least 20 hours a week or participating in a work program.
Although there have been federal government shutdowns in the past, none have stopped the SNAP program from authorizing funding.
Some Trump supporters are using social media to lie about who receives SNAP. The numbers from the federal government itself state that the largest group is people categorized as white. 89.4% of SNAP recipients were U.S.-born citizens.
Farmers and supermarkets are also among the largest recipients of SNAP benefits. Nearly 25 cents of every $1 spent via SNAP goes to farmers and ranchers.” Supermarkets in PA benefit as well.
Who gets SNAP?
SNAP lifted 304,000 people above the poverty line in Pennsylvania, including 109,000 children. The average amount the program supplies $5.85 a day. The elimination undercuts the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” program. HHS Secretary Kennedy has been urging Americans to change their diets. “When children have access to fresh, nutritious food, we don’t just feed them for a day — we set them on a path to lifelong health. By putting nutrition at the center of health, we are restoring trust in our public health system and delivering on our promise to Make America Healthy Again.”
Of the 4 PA counties with the highest percentage of SNAP recipients, three voted for Trump. Of the four counties with the lowest participants, three voted for Harris.
The food pantries cannot make up the difference, as the Director of Philabundence Lorre D. Jones said, “for every meal a food pantry provides, SNAP provides nine.”
The Republican Governor of Virginia is using state funds to ensure people in VA receive help. Other states, including Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Virginia, are looking for ways to provide the necessary funding. California is calling up the National Guard to help food banks. Officials from Alaska, New Mexico, and North Dakota have said that they’ve considered using state money to keep the food aid flowing, but fear a federal government directive may make that impossible.
In Pennsylvania, because the Budget has not been passed, the aid for farmers and food banks in Governor Shapiro’s proposed Budget has not been allocated. As of now, the only thing announced by the Governor’s administration is that its website will help direct people to food banks: no state funding, no national guard, no direct appeal to Senators Fetterman or McCormick.
No one knows if it will be enough.
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