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Budget proposal may radically restructure, cut the SNAP program

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By Correne Martin

President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget proposes to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), known as FoodShare in Wisconsin, by $193 billion over the next 10 years. The 25 percent cut would be done through a significant cost shift to the states, millions would lose eligibility and hundreds of thousands more would see reduced benefits, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The unemployed, elderly and low-income working families would bear the brunt of the cuts.

Though the U.S. House of Representatives proposed a resolution, it would still cut SNAP by $160 billion, or 20 percent.

The partisan organization Feeding Wisconsin has banded together in concern with non-partisan Second Harvest Foodbank. They feel the public needs a deeper understanding of the impact on local residents as well as the ripple affect this could have at all levels.

As the largest federal nutrition assistance program, SNAP serves 45 million Americans currently, providing an average benefit of $4 per person, per day, said David Lee, executive director of Feeding Wisconsin.

FoodShare assists around 700,000 Wisconsinites—of which 63 percent are children, seniors or disabled—and the average household receives $212 per month in FoodShare benefits, according to the Department of Health Services. Forty-three percent of the program’s beneficiaries are minors. In Crawford County, Lee said, just under 2,000 residents, or 12 percent of the citizens, utilize FoodShare.

“While [SNAP] is a federal program, it brings nearly a billion dollars into Wisconsin and $2 million into Crawford County,” Lee stated. “Participants are not making money on this. It totals around $121 per person, per month, to be used toward groceries meant to be prepared at home.”

“Yet, it doesn’t even cover basic necessities like toilet paper and personal care products,” added Dan Stein, president/CEO of Second Harvest Foodbank.

Under the federal budget proposal, the suggested cost shift would have consequences on states’ budgets, as they would need to cut in other areas. Lee contends that the decrease in SNAP dollars would lead to less money spent at grocery stores, with food manufacturers and farmers. The cost of transporting goods would also increase. If dependents receive less assistance, it may also result in them not paying their rent and utilities, getting their cars fixed, going to the doctor, etc.

“That’s an economic stimulus locally that people forget about,” Lee said, noting that, currently, for every $5 in FoodShare benefits spent, $9 is generated in the economy.

Lee said the current level of benefits affords recipients a very basic, healthy diet. However, cuts to benefits could mean low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities would no longer be guaranteed the basic foods­—potentially leading to issues with health, education and civil outcomes.

“We don’t want to exacerbate those problems. [SNAP] is the largest anti-hunger tool in the country and [FoodShare] in Wisconsin,” Lee informed. “It helps to trampoline people onto the road to opportunity. But you can’t trampoline if you fall through the net.”

Moreover, according to Stein, Second Harvest—which is a distribution organization that finds (mostly donated) food sources and gets them to the underserved areas that need assistance—faces a loss in buying power and the task of compensating for the loss of FoodShare benefits. Last year alone, between food distribution to its partners and FoodShare outreach, Second Harvest provided 140,296 meals to Crawford County residents. With the proposed cuts, Stein said, Second Harvest would need to provide an additional 193,816 meals, for a total of 334,112 meals per year.

“If we have to make up the difference, we’d have to double the amount of food we distribute. We’d be knocking on a lot more doors,” Stein explained.

In Crawford County, he continued, 1,960 people are food insecure and 973 households receive FoodShare benefits. In 2016, some 140,000 meals were distributed to the needy through the Second Harvest Mobile Food Pantry in Gays Mills, Couleecap in Prairie du Chien and other food pantries. That number would need to increase to 210,000 meals, just to make up the gap, he said.

The 2018 budget proposal isn’t the first time anti-hunger programs have seen a reduction in funds or threats to the provisions, according to Lee. “We’ve been following this issue for as long as [FoodShare has] been in existence,” he stated, adding that there have been $9 billion in program cuts over the past eight years.

“The last thing we want is for people to buy unhealthy alternatives because that’s all they can afford,” Stein quipped.

Another problem the organizations don’t want to see is what might happen the next time a recession or disaster hits, if these cuts go through. With states likely decreasing their benefits at some point, if a tragic event happens, SNAP wouldn’t be able to expand automatically as it has in the past, as each additional dollar of SNAP necessary to meet the need of new applicants would require a state contribution at a time when state budgets would be strapped.

“If the case load is full, they’ll start a waiting list. I don’t think that’s the way we want to help people,” Lee said.

Those taking these concerns to heart are encouraged to reach out to their Congressmen and “let them know these proposed cuts do not reflect their values,” Lee said. He also urged community members to continue financially supporting and donating goods to the food pantries that exist to help the needy population.

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