The Republican budget proposal that narrowly passed in the U.S. House on Tuesday calls for $2 trillion in spending cuts over a decade, and food benefits that support about a third of Philadelphia residents could face significant losses.
While it's unknown exactly how much would be slashed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, a former adviser to the director of the Office of Management and Budget told Newsweek that he expected funding would be trimmed by at least 20%.
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SNAP, a program that helps low-income households buy groceries, supports more than 42 million Americans, and 14% of Pennsylvania residents receive the benefit ($285 per month on average in 2022), according to D.C.-based nonprofit Food Research & Action Center.
In Philadelphia, about 496,000 people — nearly a third of city's population — were supported by SNAP in June 2024, said Beth McConnell, the director of policy for the city's Office of Community Empowerment and Opportunity. The money from the program largely goes back into local businesses, which redeemed $5.2 billion in 2023, the center said.
Even before the proposed cuts, SNAP recipients faced challenges over the past year. Last February, the end of a COVID-era program led to a monthly loss of at least of $95 per household. In July, the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, which connected households to food pantries and assisted with SNAP applications, shut down after almost 30 years. And less than two weeks later, Benefits Data Trust, which used technology to contact low-income residents and assist with public benefits such as SNAP, also closed its doors — leaving a huge gap for application help.
"Before COVID, there was a significant amount of food insecurity and after COVID, there's a significant amount of food insecurity and there aren't enough resources for people that need it," McConnell said in July.