WASHINGTON — As part of the Republican agenda to cut federal spending, more than 22 million households’ food budgets may be reduced.
Republicans are considering a variety of cuts to social programs in order to save the government money, including a change in how benefits are calculated under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Benefits would be reduced across the board under a SNAP cut included on a list of “spending reform options” being considered by House Republicans, which Politico first obtained.
The reform would change how SNAP benefits are calculated, saving $247 billion over a decade, or roughly 20%. It is one of the single largest cuts on the list, which totals more than $5 trillion.
The document may be less indicative of what Republicans will actually do than of how difficult it will be for them to achieve the dramatic spending cuts envisioned by billionaire Elon Musk and the most vocal far-right lawmakers.
Many of the cuts, including the change in SNAP benefits, are likely to be unpopular — even among House Republicans.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) criticized the proposal in a statement on Friday, saying it “not only means taking food from hungry children, but also less demand for the food our farmers produce, manufacturers package, truckers haul, and grocery store clerks stock on the shelves.”
Republicans have long advocated for changes to SNAP, which provides more than $350 per month on average to 22 million households.
The benefits can be used to buy groceries, and Republicans have long complained that the program encourages idleness, discouraging them from taking available jobs.
During a 2023 budget standoff, Republicans demanded that Democrats agree to stricter “work requirements” for the program, while loosening eligibility criteria for homeless people and veterans. In previous years, Republicans struggled to reach an agreement on deeper cuts to the program.
Since President-elect Donald Trump has ruled out cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Republicans on Capitol Hill must look elsewhere for savings. The menu circulated this month also proposes significant cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans.
The SNAP cut would reform the “thrifty food plan,” the formula used by the US Department of Agriculture to calculate benefit amounts.
Republicans complained bitterly when President Joe Biden increased SNAP benefits by adjusting the thrifty food plan in 2021, effectively making a temporary increase enacted in response to the coronavirus pandemic permanent. Undoing Biden’s boost would reduce average benefits by approximately 20% across the board.
Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, proposed making it impossible for future administrations to make such drastic changes to benefits, but he did not suggest eliminating the increase. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), chair of the House Budget Committee, is said to have proposed the SNAP cut.
During his first term, Trump also went around Congress to change the SNAP program by tightening eligibility requirements.