Republicans Tried Shutting Down Food Aid for 1.4 Million North Carolinians

This week, President Trump and Congressional Republicans tried shutting off SNAP– the vital food assistance program that helps over 40 million working Americans put food on the table.

In the eleventh hour, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP. But as of now, it’s unclear if the Trump administration will follow the court order or appeal the ruling– leaving the program in limbo.

SNAP touches every corner of our state, helping to feed people of all backgrounds and all geographies. Of the 1.4 million North Carolinians who utilize the program, roughly 40% are children. Recent data shows that 80% of NC SNAP households have someone who is actively working. Over 200,000 of North Carolina’s SNAP beneficiaries are seniors, and roughly 46,000 are veterans.

SNAP also plays a key role in North Carolina’s economy. For every $1 invested in SNAP, the program creates up to $1.80 in economic benefits for local communities. The program ensures that working people are fed and that local economies stay afloat.

The plan to cut off food assistance was a cruel and unprecedented move– even for this White House. The Trump administration has access to billions of dollars of funding to keep SNAP running, but they refused to use it, instead opting to use hungry families as leverage in the ongoing government shutdown. If Republicans had been successful, it would have been the first time in modern history that federal food assistance funding had lapsed.

This isn’t the first time Republicans have attacked SNAP. Congressional Republicans slashed food assistance funding earlier this year in order to give huge tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. The cuts were severe, amounting to roughly 20% of SNAP’s funding– an estimated $187 billion over ten years. Meanwhile, the richest Americans and largest corporations received over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.

SNAP benefits could run out on the same day that health care costs officially spike, which, unfortunately, is also a result of Republicans’ summer budget cuts. Congress refused to extend ACA subsidies, meaning that on November 1, when open enrollment begins on the ACA marketplace– premiums are going to rise by an average of 30% in North Carolina.

And while working people are struggling to make ends meet, MAGA is going on a spending spree. As government employees work without paychecks and working families worry about finding their next meal, the federal government has somehow found the money to spend $170 million on two private jets for Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, $300 million on a White House ballroom, and $40 billion to bail out Argentina’s economy.

With SNAP in limbo, we could soon be seeing longer lines at food banks and lighter bags being carried away from them. Children may have less food on their plates, heading to school with their stomachs empty and their minds cloudy. Parents may lose sleep, doing mental math about how to keep the lights on while putting food on the table.

We can’t give up on working families. Whether it’s contacting your legislators, sharing resources, or donating to a food bank, we have to continue fighting for North Carolinians who are struggling to make ends meet. See below for some of those resources.

And are you looking to share your story on how rising costs are impacting you and your family? Visit our site and tell us about your budget.

Resources

NC 211 Emergency Food Access and Basic Needs: Map for all of NC, search by zip code.