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May 7, 2025<\/b> \u2013 At a press conference on Capitol Hill today, Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee railed against Republican plans to cut spending on food aid<\/a>, emphasizing that funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) supports hungry families as well as farmers, grocery workers, truckers, and food manufacturers.<\/p>\n \u201cSNAP doesn\u2019t just give away money, it powers our economy<\/a>,\u201d said Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-Illinois), who spoke along with Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minnesota) and Representatives Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) and Jahana Hayes (D-Connecticut).<\/p>\n After the lawmakers spoke, they invited others who rely on SNAP to share their stories. Yolanda Gordon, a U.S. Army veteran, and Meghan Hullinger, a single mother, both spoke about how SNAP benefits had helped them get through difficult times. Two farmers, Kat Becker from Wisconsin, and Carah Ronan from Montana, spoke about how SNAP dollars support their farms. \u201cFarms and nutrition go hand-in-hand,\u201d said Ronan, after detailing how the funds help her provide fresh local produce, eggs, and meat to her community. \u201cLet\u2019s keep it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n The event was one of many that Democrats and anti-hunger advocates organized this week in advance of the Agriculture Committee\u2019s meeting to lay out the details of what they plan to cut, scheduled for next week. While the Republicans who lead the committee are more moderate than others in the party and have resisted deeper cuts to SNAP<\/a>, the far-right wing of the party appears to be winning the fight. Politico reported yesterday<\/a> that the House is still expected to make $230 billion in cuts as a part of the party\u2019s plan to fund tax cuts for higher-income Americans.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing fiscally responsible about making more people hungry and more people suffer just to hand out billionaire tax cuts,\u201d Brown said at the conference.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal<\/em> editorial board characterized some of the Republicans\u2019 plans<\/a> to slash spending\u2014like shifting costs to states and tightening rules around work requirements\u2014as common-sense ways to \u201cfix the dysfunctional federal food assistance program.\u201d However, earlier in the week, at the Food Research and Action Center\u2019s Anti-Hunger Food Policy Conference<\/a>, a recurring message was that all of those changes would effectively mean fewer people have access to SNAP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n