Millions in food aid for children and seniors at risk in proposed SNAP cuts, Healey warns

Hundreds of thousands of Bay State children and seniors could go hungry if the congressional Republicans carry through with their plan to cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Initiative or SNAP the Healey administration is warning Lower chamber lawmakers are attempting to cover the cost of implementing President Donald Trump s signature first-term tax cuts by slashing several establishment programs and the big beautiful bill touted by the U S President could end up costing the Bay State nearly million in food assistance funding annually Gov Maura Healey warned Thursday It s a cost no state is prepared to suddenly bear she disclosed This budget proposal from Congressional Republicans will force Massachusetts families to go hungry and take away business from local retailers and farmers the governor reported in a comment In a letter sent to the Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture urging them to reverse curriculum Healey explained that more than one million Massachusetts residents rely on SNAP one third of whom are elderly one quarter of them are children and a quarter of those who receive SNAP in our state have a disability The benefit provided to those who need it Healey wrote is modest averaging about per day per household People receiving SNAP benefits don t hoard the money either which is good for those who aren t receiving food assistance according to the governor Every dollar in SNAP benefits generates up to in local economic activity supporting thousands of Massachusetts jobs across a multitude of different industries including farmers grocers manufacturers delivery drivers and other positions throughout the food supply chain she wrote The proposed cuts according to Lt Gov Kimberly Driscoll pulls the rug out from under states who have worked in good faith partnership with the federal authorities for decades This proposal will force kids to go hungry and hurt our economic system she declared On Wednesday the House Agriculture Committee advanced rule which would see vital changes both in how SNAP is funded and what requirements are placed on prospective recipients The statute which heads next to the House Budget Committee would conclusion in billion in cuts to the venture over the next decade The bill would also require states to fund part of their SNAP programs depending on their payment error rate States with the lowest error rate would pay of SNAP costs while those with higher payment errors would have to put up of costs It also aims to prevent future increases to the SNAP benefit and ups the work requirement age cap from to