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By Suzanne Blake
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A new budget resolution passed by House Republicans has sparked concerns that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will be cut significantly.
Why It Matters
More than 41 million people receive SNAP benefits monthly in order to purchase foods at their local grocery stores.
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If the program sees major cuts, there'd likely be a reduction in monthly benefit amounts or lower income thresholds to qualify.
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What To Know
The Republican Party has been looking to pass spending cuts as a way to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which would add another $4.5 trillion in spending.
The new budget resolution proposed by House Republicans calls for a $2 trillion cut to mandatory spending over the next budget window, and "mandatory spending" includes programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
The budget resolution also enables committees to cut $230 billion from the Committee on Agriculture, $330 billion from the Committee on Education & the Workforce, $880 billion from the Committee on Energy and Commerce and $50 billion from the Oversight Committee.
Bobby Kogan, the senior director of Federal Budget Policy at American Progress who previously served in the Biden administration as adviser to the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the cuts would diminish SNAP's funding by at least 20 percent.
"For the Ag Committee, well, if you think they're not touching SNAP, that means they're cutting everything else by 74 percent," Kogan wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. "You think Republicans are cutting farm support by 74 percent? Or do you think they're cutting SNAP—like they literally said they were?"
The budget cuts in question would be for the Committee on Agriculture and Committee on Energy and Commerce. However, it's not clear yet if the funding gap would impact the government-run nutritional benefits.
So while the budget resolution doesn't explicitly cut SNAP benefits, it could open the door to significant financial adjustments to the program.
What People Are Saying
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on X: "Republicans are putting Medicaid and SNAP on the chopping block in order to reward their billionaire donors and big corporations with tax breaks. The American people cannot afford this extreme agenda."
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: "The budget resolution Republicans are pushing for does include motions for the agencies over Medicaid and SNAP to reduce their deficits by hundreds of billions of dollars starting this year through 2034. While we can't approximate how much of those cuts will affect SNAP and Medicaid, we can assume those reductions will have a significant impact on them."
Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital, told Newsweek: "The resolution does not explicitly mention Medicaid or SNAP, but reading between the lines, these programs may be affected if lawmakers aim to reduce overall mandatory spending."
Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek: "For SNAP, the resolution calls for $230 billion in cuts over 10 years. This would be achieved through stricter work requirements and changes to how benefit levels adjust for inflation. These modifications would effectively reduce both eligibility and benefit amounts for families already struggling with food costs."
What Happens Next
If the Republicans are able to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they may need to make cuts to existing programs to find the extra $4.5 trillion in spending.
"To justify this, cuts to mandatory spending programs may be on the table, contradicting campaign promises to leave entitlements untouched," Thompson said. "As for what's next, negotiations will likely take place, and further discussions will unfold before any final decision is reached."
Ryan said if the changes are ultimately passed, it would fundamentally alter America's social safety net while increasing state-level tax burdens.
"States will need to either raise taxes or further reduce services to compensate for decreased federal support," Ryan said. "This will hit the rural and economically disadvantaged areas where these programs play an outsized role in supporting both individual wellbeing and local economies."
The House GOP's budget resolution needs a majority vote to make it out of the Budget Committee before moving to the full House, where Republicans have a small majority of 218 to 215.
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