SNAP benefits on the chopping blockSNAP benefits on the chopping block

Food assistance for millions of U.S. citizens could be cut by billions of dollars over the next decade under the budget plan released Wednesday by House Republicans.

The budget proposal aims to cut $2 trillion in mandatory spending over the next decade, $230 billion of which would come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

It’s still uncertain how much of that budget cut would come from the SNAP, but a report last year from the House Republican Study Committee recommends a 22% cut to the food security program. 

Along with the benefits recipients, those cuts would be felt most by Walmart and Kroger, which are the two biggest recipients of SNAP dollars spent, according to data analytics company Numerator.

In its SNAP Shopper Scorecard, released in October, Numerator reported that Walmart captured 25.8% of SNAP dollars, followed by Kroger at 9.1%; Albertsons at 6.5%, Costco at 6.2%, Sam’s Club at 3.8%, Ahold Delhaize at 3.4%, 7-Eleven at 2.9%, Dollar General and Publix each at 2.6%, and Aldi at 2.1%.

Numerator said that as of July 2024, more than two out of every five (41.2%) recipients of SNAP and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) spent those funds at traditional grocery stores. Nearly a quarter (23.7%) shopped at mass merchandise stores like Walmart and Target, while the remainder went to gas and convenience stores (19.3%), dollar stores (9.9%), warehouse clubs (3.9%), drug stores (1.5%), and other stores (0.4%).

The SNAP program also faced scrutiny this week from the USDA, accusing the former Biden administration U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack and former Deputy Under Secretary Stacy Dean of mismanaging the SNAP program. 

The announcement “Trump USDA Vows to Correct Biden’s Financial Mismanagement of SNAP” argues that the USDA violated recording statutes on disbursement of SNAP funds beginning in September 2023 by using “its FY 2023 one-year SNAP appropriation to pay for FY 2024 SNAP benefits.”

A report released Wednesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office noted that “because USDA's FY 2023 one-year SNAP appropriation was not available to pay for FY 2024 benefits, USDA should adjust its accounts and charge those benefit amounts to appropriations available for obligation in FY 2024. If USDA lacks sufficient funds in the relevant appropriations, it must report an Antideficiency Act violation.”

“The Trump Administration will immediately correct this egregious action, making certain material weaknesses like this do not happen again,” USDA Chief of Staff Kailee Buller said in a press release on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, House Democrats pushed back on the massive plan to cut benefits with House Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, noting the Republican plan is “proposing to cut funding for hungry children, seniors, and veterans to help partially pay for their tax bill.”

“Taking $230 billion out of the food economy hurts the farmers who grow our food, the truckers who move it, the processors who package it and the grocery stores that sell it,” Craig said. “Cutting farm bill nutrition programs does not make life affordable for everyday people.”

Craig noted that 42 million Americans rely on SNAP, and in 2020, the program created nearly 200,000 U.S. grocery industry jobs along with 45,000 jobs in supporting industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and municipal services.