If you voted because you can't afford groceries, you're in for a surprise.

Appetizer. Back in the early 2000s, I remember my mom would send me to the grocery store with $40. I’d return home with a good amount of food. Now, we’re easily spending $70 on just two bags of healthy staple foods/fruits - and that’s when the shopping list doesn’t have meat.

Entree. No matter your political affiliation, you’re facing the grocery store squeeze. Depending on where you live, you may have been facing this issue for a lot longer than others who have recently experienced how they’re a paycheck away from tough times.

We’re the land of plenty yet with plenty of food we have plenty of hunger;
plenty of homes but plenty of homeless;
plenty of wealth but plenty of poverty.

Food affordability was a top issue when people voted this year. But if you think the incoming administration will do anything to help with affording food, I’ve got some bad news.

The incoming administration hasn’t hidden how they plan to cut and gut the nation’s number one effort against hunger. Their plans are out in the open. Whether it’s through Elon and Vivek utilizing DOGE, Project 2025, or Republican policies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) - a welfare program that helps over 40 million people afford to put food on the table every month - is on the biggest chopping block of its life.

1. Republicans seek to cut $30 billion directly from SNAP benefits over the next ten years.

2. Project 2025 seeks to kick millions of participants with low income off of SNAP through budget cuts.

3. DOGE will further attempt to cut, likely through privatization, which…well, this will be a post of its own.

This will make affording to put food on the table even harder for over 40 million people because get this - the average SNAP benefit per person per day is only $6.20. Nobody can afford groceries, let alone a healthy diet, on that amount. So the fact that elected officials want to cut this minimal food aid at a time when grocery prices have outpaced wage increases when they were just elected because people can’t afford food is the most lunatic thing I’ve ever experienced.

Beyond impacting SNAP participants, this will also pull billions of dollars out of local economies. Meaning, grocery stores will get hit hard. What will a grocery store do when it loses a significant revenue stream? I’m no economist but I reckon it can only do one of two things:

1. increase prices for everyone or

2. close down.

Surprise?

Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash

Just Desserts. This is where you and I make it sweet. We are not going to make it easy to take away the minimal help that over 40 million of our neighbors use every month. And in this economy when layoffs and job losses could happen any moment, any one of us could be benefiting from SNAP.

So here’s my ask: subscribe to A Paycheck Away, enable notifications, and spread the word because the work is about to ramp up. If you can’t afford a paid subscription, then invite 3 of your family and friends to subscribe.

Stay tuned for ways you can use your phone calls and emails to make the difference.