The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center is putting out a press release on the damage that proposed cuts will do to Pennsylvania. I am the contact person for them in the Johnstown area. The press release can be read below.
Talking Points: Trump Budget Would Shift Huge SNAP Costs to Pennsylvania
and
Put Pennsylvanians at Risk of Going Hungry
·
President Trump’s budget proposal would shift a
significant share of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance
Program’s (SNAP, previously known as Food Stamps) benefits to states and, for
the first time, allow states to cut SNAP benefits, seriously threatening SNAP’s
extraordinary long-term success in reducing severe hunger and malnutrition.
·
The proposal threatens to dramatically increase
the number of Pennsylvanians at risk of going hungry.
·
Historically, SNAP benefits have been financed
with federal funds to ensure that regional disparities in hunger, poverty and
resources are properly addressed which has helped ensure that low-income
households have access to adequate food despite regardless of where they live.
·
The President’s budget would end this
longstanding and successful approach by forcing states to cover 10 percent of
SNAP benefit costs beginning in 2020, and increasing that share to 25 percent
in 2023 and later years. The proposal would cut federal SNAP funding by $116
billion over a decade.
·
Once the provision was fully in effect,
Pennsylvania would face at least[AH1]
$682 million in additional annual costs. Over the full ten years, the federal
disinvestment proposed in the Trump budget would result in nearly $4.2 billion
in SNAP costs being passed onto Pennsylvania – costs the state simply cannot
afford.
·
Pennsylvania would be unable to absorb such
significant cost shifts without cutting SNAP benefits and taking other steps
that could increase hunger and hardship.
·
These added costs are part of a massive overall
cost shift to states in the President’s budget. In total, the President’s
budget would shift about $453 billion annually to states and localities by 2027.
·
At the same time, the President is
proposing massive tax cuts largely for the wealthy and corporations that would
likely cost several trillion dollars over the coming decade.