As the cost of groceries and essentials soars, cuts to food assistance passed by Congressional Republicans and signed into law by Donald Trump go into effect this week, leaving countless vulnerable families to bear the weight of their failed priorities.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cuts will eliminate food assistance for 2.4 million vulnerable Americans each month, and the remaining recipients will see their assistance drop by $72 per month.
Thanks to Republicans, families will be forced to tighten their budgets even more, while rich grocery owners and investors stand to benefit from the financial pressures placed on families hunting for deals and trying to make their dollars stretch in Trump’s economy.
Local grocers and small food retailers, by contrast, are facing financial disaster, and many fear a loss of grocers in rural counties that already have few food retailers.
“This month, families already struggling with rising costs will be stripped of access to basic nutrition thanks to Republicans cutting funds for food assistance to pay for massive tax cuts for the rich,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Brandon Weathersby. “Real people will go hungry, and working families will fall further behind, all while large corporations cash in. Republicans’ cruel policies mean that in Trump’s economy, the rich feast while the poor starve.”
Get a glimpse of how communities are dealing with the Trump betrayal at the local level:
North Carolina: Local food banks warn cuts to SNAP will have even greater impacts on students, “So when their parents and their families get cut from those programs, they suddenly find themselves ineligible for free and reduced cost meals at lunch.” And, local school district officials said, “In the big picture. what we think we will see is that likely we will have fewer students qualifying for free or reduced benefits, and that could certainly affect our CEP participation at schools by lowering the number of schools that qualify for CEP.”
Massachusetts: Elizabeth O’Gilvie, who helps lead the Springfield Food Policy Council and Gardening, is most concerned about the hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts over the next decade for SNAP, telling local reporters, “When families lose that benefit, they will not have the money to shop in the stores. And many of our neighborhoods, most of them in Springfield, are already food-marginalized.”
Minnesota: The University of Minnesota Food Education Program is part of the nearly $190 billion in cuts to the SNAP program. Former employee Sharmyn Phipps said, “We educated in the schools, we worked with seniors. It’s one thing to tell someone you need to eat more fruits and vegetables. It’s another thing to have them have access to it.”
Oregon: Farmer’s market vendors are worried about the impact SNAP cuts will have on their businesses, telling reporters, “We have about 75 to 80 farm vendors, and then a total of about 115 to 128 total vendors… It would significantly impact our farmers, and in fact, it kind of already has. We have heard from a lot of folks already that have experienced cuts to EBT and their SNAP money. And a lot of these people who come to the farmers’ market are Eugene locals who can’t afford to shop anywhere else. And thankfully, we do offer the double food bucks matching program for EBT, but oftentimes that’s not enough for people who don’t have EBT or can’t make it to the farmer’s market once a week or twice a week.”
Virginia: Officials say reduced SNAP funding could result in hundreds of thousands of families losing their SNAP benefits and could trickle down to impact students’ access to free lunch. “SNAP eligibility determines eligibility for free and reduced lunch. It also determines how many school divisions are eligible for funding to help them provide free and reduced lunch.”
Illinois: Programs helping people make healthier decisions and be financially responsible with their SNAP benefits are coming to an end due to cuts. “You know, we can teach nutrition education all day long, but if families can’t access the foods or access the resources they need to engage in the knowledge that they’ve just learned, it’s kind of a work for not.”
For more, visit the Republican Impact Project, American Bridge 21st Century’s open-source database tracking the impacts of Trump’s policies at the local level.
Published: Sep 3, 2025