Last summer, President Donald Trump signed the Senate Reconciliation Bill, or as it's more well known, the One Big, Beautiful Bill into law.
The law includes many significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, such as more strict work requirements for many older, disabled veteran, unhoused or parenting adults, and it shifts much of the financial burden of the program from the federal government to the states.
For the month of January, we’re focusing on the impacts of health policy changes made by the Trump administration during its first year.
Now, states will be expected to pay 75% of administrative costs for the program, as well as take on more of the benefit costs — how much more will depend on what's called an error rate, essentially a measure of how accurately the state runs the program.
Gina Plata-Nino is the SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit group focused on eliminating hunger in the US. She spoke about some of the impacts these changes could have on Missourians.
Gina Plata-Nino: This journey began in the summer when President Trump signed the reconciliation law, which gutted over $186 billion of SNAP — permanently changing the way the program works and how states and beneficiaries can access it.
I say that because states had to implement all of those changes, including individuals now 18 to 64, unhoused individuals, veterans, youth aging out of foster care, caretakers of children 14 and up — who are required to be to show that they are working at least 20 hours a week.
If not, they are cut off from SNAP, and they could get only SNAP for three months in a three-year period, and that's just one of the changes.
"People on SNAP are less likely to require emergency services, to be in the hospital."Gina Plata-Nino, the Food Research & Action Center
It affects everyone because, you know, everyone has to eat. You know, a lot of people who are in SNAP are working, right? It's just that they're not making enough money.
And when 70% to 80% of your funds are going to shelter cost, it leaves very little to be able to meet other basic needs.
So, you have to choose — Do I pay shelter or do I pay food? Do I pay for childcare or do I pay for food? Do I pay for utilities — all of these things.
And we have these very vulnerable populations where you don't have a backing, you don't have a, you know, a resource. This is your resource, right? This is your hand up.
It's not a single thing. People think, like, SNAP — it's on the individual, but remember that people on SNAP are less likely to require emergency services, to be in the hospital.
So, what happens if you don't have enough food, you're going to skip meals. Will you be able to go to work? You might, likely, have to call in sick because your immune system has been compromised.
And, again, the lack of sort of support that they may have, that they can call on, on family members, or on other or other venues to say, “Hey, I really need help” — may not necessarily be ther.
And for everyone else as a whole, you can help for a little bit, but not long term because then people are also personally being impacted.
