GOP plan takes food stamps away from 2 million Americans in need

Trump and Republicans have spent months trying to kick needy Americans off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. And they are poised to “succeed” in stripping crucial nutrition aid from 2 million households, according to a new study released Thursday.

Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research organization, analyzed how certain provisions of the new Farm Bill in the U.S. House would affect eligibility for food stamps.

About 1 in 11 households receiving SNAP would lose benefits, the shocking study found. And the pain resulting from the Republican-led House bill would hit vulnerable Americans hardest.

Of the nearly 2 million households poised to lose SNAP benefits, “34 percent (677,000 households) include seniors, 23 percent (469,000 households) include children, and 11 percent (214,000 households) include a person with a disability,” the study found.

And that’s not even the whole picture of how many low-income Americans will be denied food assistance thanks to Trump and congressional Republicans.

The study’s authors told The New York Times that those 2 million households who would immediately lose benefits don’t include the 1.2 million Americans whom the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in May would be thrown off of SNAP by 2028, thanks to the work requirement and income requirements that Trump and House Republicans have been pushing.

Most of those additional 1.2 million people, 62 percent, would be parents caring for children, according to the CBO analysis.

Another independent analysis in May found that Americans living in areas that voted for Trump would be disproportionately affected by the cuts.

None of this has dissuaded Trump, who showed his support for the House bill just last week. He tweeted that the Republican House and Senate should “Pass the Farm Bill with SNAP work requirements!”

Gutting food stamps has been a long-term goal of Republicans, and they have found willing allies in the Trump administration. That’s because Republicans have long used welfare reform, and particularly food stamps, as racist dog-whistle politics, which also have particular appeal to Trump’s supporters.

But the Republicans’ cruel plan only figures to reduce food stamp spending by 2 billion dollars a year over 10 years — just a fraction of the almost 2 trillion dollar tax cut that Trump gifted to his wealthy supporters.

Americans are already fed up with the Republican tax scam. And most decent Americans will be even more horrified when they learn that some of that windfall for the wealthy comes right out of the mouths of our most vulnerable.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.