The Senate is Planning Its SNAP Cuts

Over 50% of likely voters don't know what's in the Budget Bill

The Senate is planning how it will cut SNAP and will have a draft ready on Wednesday, June 11. If you’ve been waiting for the moment to call your Senator to reject cuts to SNAP, there is no more time left.

Make the call today and be absolutely clear on one thing: not a single cut to any basic needs programs.

Here’s a recap of what happened in the House and what the Senate Ag Committee is chewing on:

• The House wants to shift SNAP costs to the states and base those cost shifts on how many errors the state makes. The higher the error, the higher the cost shift.

  • The Senate is looking to decrease that cost shift.

    • THIS IS NOT A WIN. No state can afford to make the cost shift.

• The House wants to force older adults to work low wage jobs or be kicked off the program.

  • The Senate seems to be keen on keeping this in.

    • This could remove 3 million people between 54-64 years old from SNAP because let’s face it, these folks are discriminated against for their age, they have health issues that prevents work but doesn’t qualify as a full disability, there are no jobs available for their skill levels, etc.

• The House wants to force single parents with children over the age of 7 to work 20 hours a week.

  • The Senate may be considering this.

    • This will remove so many single parents from their household’s SNAP account, decreasing the amount of SNAP benefits that household receives.

• The House wants to block refugees, asylees, and parolees from being eligible for SNAP.

  • The Senate may remove this.

    • This would be good but cannot be a trade that is made to continue with all these other cuts on the table.

Remember - the House Budget is a mile leap backwards and these Senate whisperings are a few steps forward from that mile leap backwards. So no matter how you slice it, these are still cuts and must be voted against. Phone number and script is available at the end.

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I’m receiving a lot of questions on what people can do if both their Senators are Democrats. First and foremost, you must call because you better believe there are people who support the House Budget Bill who are calling them. Don’t let those Senators feel alone.

Secondly, donate to organizations that are fighting Trump’s agenda.

I teamed up with Oath to help you find the issues, elections, and candidates that matter to you. Check out my page (click here), where one donation is shared with organizations that work day and night to fight Trump’s agenda. I’ve chosen these four and why I chose them:

• Protect Democracy filed an important lawsuit that made Trump second-guess his attempt to force state vendors to share identifiable information.

• ACLU is successfully pushing back against Trump’s crusade against immigrant students.

• Giffords Law Center is engaged in multiple lawsuits against gun manufacturers for their role in gun violence.

• Center for Reproductive Rights is engaged in multiple lawsuits against harmful laws that restrict access to abortion and other reproductive rights.

You may not even know that these groups exist but they’re doing phenomenal work behind the scenes. I hope you support them today because they have a ton of work to do right now and need all hands on deck.

Here’s the Script (read the whole thing before doing it so you have a good sense of what to do)

1. Use this link to find your Senator’s phone number and call their office. You’ll speak with a staffer, not the Senator. When the receptionist answers, ask to speak with the staffer who works on SNAP or agriculture issues.

2. “Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I live in [City], [State]. I’m a constituent calling to urge Senator [Name] to protect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in the upcoming budget negotiations.”

3. “I’m calling about the House budget bill. It contains unprecedented, harmful cuts and structural changes to SNAP and Medicaid that would devastate families and our state economy. I strongly urge the Senator to oppose these provisions and make sure [he/she] does not vote for any single cut to SNAP or Medicaid.”

4. Choose 3-4 to raise on the call.

   1. Shifts Huge Costs to States:
      The bill would force states to pay up to 25 percent of SNAP food benefits and raise the state share of administrative costs from 50 percent to 75 percent. Our state doesn’t have the budget to absorb this unfunded mandate.

   2. Harms Kids, Grandparents, & Caregivers:
      It limits benefits to just three months in three years for parents of children as young as seven, grandparents, and older adults unless they can prove 20 hours of work each week—ignoring caregiving duties, child-care access, and local job conditions.

   3. Worsens Health & Drives Up Costs:
      SNAP is proven to improve health, reduce hospitalizations, and boost kids’ educational success. Cutting it will raise health-care and education costs.

   4. Damages Local Economies:
      Every $1 of SNAP benefits creates up to $1.80 in economic activity. In food retail alone, SNAP sustains nearly 200,000 jobs and $16 billion in wages nationwide. Slashing nearly 30 percent of SNAP would hit rural and low-income communities hardest.

   5. Food Banks Can’t Fill the Gap:
      For every nine meals SNAP provides, charities supply only one. They can’t replace a program of this scale.

5. “Please tell Senator [Name] to:

   • Publicly oppose any SNAP cuts.

   • Work with Senate colleagues to ensure SNAP remains fully federally funded and accessible to all eligible families.”

Tips

• Be courteous

• Staffers are noting tallies.

• Personalize with a brief story if you have one (e.g., how SNAP helped your family or someone you know).

• Keep it under two minutes—the shorter and clearer, the bigger the impact.