Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) released the following statement regarding the passage of the Republican budget. The legislation, which steals health care coverage and food from millions of Americans to fund tax breaks for the already rich, now heads to the president’s desk to become law. 

“Today marks a grave turning point for our country, one which leaves rural communities and farmers behind, and places us on the road toward increased hunger, less prosperity and fewer opportunities for working families. This bill takes food away from millions of children, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. Congressional Republicans have sold out ordinary Americans to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-rich and large corporations. The Republican budget is a disgrace, and every single person who voted for it should be ashamed.”

The Republican budget decimates the farm bill’s Nutrition Title and abandons the historically bipartisan farm bill coalition.  

Elements of the Republican budget include:

Slashing SNAP Benefits: Republicans’ budget bill puts in jeopardy SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans depending on SNAP to help put food on their tables, including: 16 million children, 8 million seniors (aged 60+), 4 million people with disabilities (below 60), and 1.2 million veterans. It also slashes $1 billion from Summer EBT, which provides food assistance to children in low-income families over the summer and $1 billion from Puerto Rico’s Nutrition Assistance Program.

Taking Food Away from Millions of Americans: The bill’s expanded SNAP paperwork requirements puts  5 million people, including about 800,000 children and more than 500,000 adults aged 65 or older and adults with disabilities, at risk of losing some or all of their SNAP benefits. 

Taking Benefits Away from Veterans, Homeless People, and Former Foster Youth: CBO estimates that the Republican budget, roughly 270,000 veterans, homeless people and former foster youth (up to age 24), will lose their food assistance each month. 

Forcing States or Counties to Raise Local Taxes or Cut Services: In 9 states that use counties to administer SNAP, counties’ costs are projected to jump by more than $850 million per year. In some states, counties could see their expenses rise by $250 million per year. 

Pushing States to Eliminate SNAP Entirely: The Republicans’ reconciliation bill shifts $65 billion¹ in benefit and administrative costs to states and counties, which could result in states being forced to pull out of the program altogether due to increased costs. Governors, county commissioners, SNAP administrators, and CBO have all warned that there is no alternative if states and counties cannot meet the amount demanded.

Rewarding States with High Error Rates: For months, all we’ve heard is that this bill is meant to “root out” waste, fraud and abuse. Republicans have disingenuously pointed to SNAP payment error rates as the problem, mischaracterizing them as a measurement of “fraud,” when it is actually a measurement of states’ payment calculation accuracy. They have said they wanted to “crack down on the worst offenders.” Yet, in the final bill they did a 180 and decided to give only states with the highest error rates the ability to avoid the new SNAP benefit cost shift. Now, Republicans are punishing states that are making more progress, while rewarding those making the least. Clearly, this was never about “waste, fraud and abuse.” This is about using any means possible to cut food assistance programs to give tax breaks to the richest Americans and the largest corporations.  

Breaking Up the Long-standing Farm Bill Coalition: With costs up, prices down, and the threat of a trade war that has already cost farmers’ markets, now more than ever, our family farmers, ranchers and producers need the certainty that a five-year, 12-title farm bill provides. If Republicans decimate SNAP, a farm bill program, the coalition that has been essential to the successful passage of bipartisan farm bills will be forever undermined, making it tougher to pass not just a full farm bill this year but all future farm bills.  

Reducing Farm Revenue: These massive SNAP cuts will also result in a $25 billion drop in farm revenue at a time when every dollar counts. 

Hurting Rural Communities: SNAP cuts will hit rural America hardest. SNAP’s economic impact is particularly strong in rural communities (16 percent) and small towns (15 percent), where people participate at higher rates than in urban areas (13 percent),and where SNAP dollars provide even higher returns to the local economy.

Harming Rural Grocers: 27,000 retailers in largely rural counties have the highest risk of being harmed by SNAP cuts, due to the program’s significant economic impact in rural communities. SNAP is responsible for 249,700 grocery industry jobs annually, with direct wages totaling $10.3 billion.

 Damaging the Food Economy: Cuts to SNAP have significant negative impacts on the farmers who grow the food, manufacturers that package it, truckers who distribute it and stores and small businesses in our communities that sell it. In 2024, SNAP created nearly 139,000 new jobs in supporting industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and municipal services, with direct wages totaling $9.8 billion. More than $20 billion in direct wages derived from the 388,700 grocery and supporting industry jobs supported by SNAP result in over $4.5 billion in state and federal tax revenue per year.