Statement of CSPI Director of Legislative Affairs Philip Kahn-Pauli

To pay for tax cuts for the rich, Republicans in Congress are moving forward with unprecedented cuts in federal programs that feed hungry Americans and provide life-saving health care.

First, this bill will inaugurate the most significant cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) ever contemplated, impacting 42 million Americans who need SNAP benefits to put food on their kitchen tables. Their access to food will suffer because the federal government is now demanding that states pay a higher chunk of the administrative and benefit costs for the program. According to estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 5 million people, including 800,000 children” may lose their SNAP benefits because their households will no longer qualify for these critical benefits. The abuse doesn’t end there.

Through major changes to Medicaid eligibility, millions of Americans stand to lose access to healthcare. In addition, consequences will be felt in school lunchrooms across the country. Fewer kids enrolled in Medicaid will burden school districts with determining eligibility for free or reduced cost school meals, impacting their ability to provide free school meals for all students.

How can families afford a healthy diet which improves their health when Congress is stripping away the very programs that allow families to do so? And why must Americans with the fewest resources pay the price for the rich to get richer?

In the end, we will be left with a hungrier, sicker nation composed of millions of working-class people struggling to get by while billionaires reap the rewards.

We strongly urge Congress to reject these proposals.

Instead, Congress should craft real solutions that will support food access and improve nutrition and health for millions of children and working-class families.

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