To the editor:
When the federal government shutdown ended, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was reinstated. But that continuing resolution expires January 30. The next appropriation bill (FY 26) must take steps to undo the harmful cuts made to SNAP through the budget reconciliation law HR.1, which requires that most states pay a share of SNAP food benefit costs. This shift of costs—hundreds of millions of dollars—to states has never happened in the history of the program.
The next appropriation bill must eliminate this unprecedented and devastating cost shift to states and counties. If continued, it will create impossible choices for state and municipal governments: to fund SNAP or cut other critical services. So, which program will be cut—SNAP, housing, healthcare, early childhood education? The cost shifts to states would be so severe that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that states combined would be forced to contribute $35 billion or exit the program entirely. SNAP has never been a state budget line item. The recent shutdown demonstrated the chaos that delaying benefits creates as families are forced to choose between food, rent, and other basic needs.
States cannot and should not be expected to cover federal disinvestment in a national nutrition program. States must balance their budgets. Even states that try to fill the gap will quickly deplete rainy day funds and divert resources from priorities like housing, education, and healthcare.
Congress must act quickly to give states adequate time and resources to prevent errors by delaying the cost share until 2030 for all states. Per the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “CBO estimated that states would respond to this cost shift by collectively reducing or eliminating SNAP benefits for about 300,000 people in a typical month. Because children who receive SNAP are automatically eligible for free school meals and Summer EBT, CBO also estimated that 96,000 children in a typical month would see cuts in these benefits when their families were cut off SNAP.” The choices, including eliminating SNAP, will adversely impact those who are already food insecure.
Please join me and participate in the national #StopThatSNAPShift Day of Action on Thursday, January 15. Urge your members of Congress to repeal the harmful SNAP costs shifts to states in the next appropriations bill. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, use the FRAC Action Network, and get vocal on social media and tag your representatives.
Leslye Heilig, M.D.
Great Barrington
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