MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
House Republicans approved the reconciliation bill, which includes unprecedented cuts to the largest feeding program in the nation. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, stands to lose nearly $300 billion if the bill passes the Senate. Texas Public Radio's Paul Flahive talked to people who will be most affected by the potential cuts.
PAUL FLAHIVE, BYLINE: Looking out from under his ball cap with the words Marines stitched across the bill, Richard Maldonado's eyes are tired. He got to this parking lot on San Antonio's southwest side at 4 a.m. for a food bank distribution. It doesn't start until 9, but he says he didn't want to miss out.
RICHARD MALDONADO: Without that, we'd be in bad shape.
FLAHIVE: Sitting next to him, Corina Guttierez says her SNAP dollars, which she still calls food stamps, are running out more quickly, and they have to rely even more on the San Antonio Food Bank.
CORINA GUTTIEREZ: We get the stamps once a month, and before we know it, by almost two weeks, we are out of them.
MALDONADO: Yeah.
FLAHIVE: The couple are in their 60s and 70s. Maldonado worries there will be less food to go around if the government cuts SNAP and they will have to turn to family for help.
MALDONADO: We're going to be dependent on people, like, donating money or food or whatever.
FLAHIVE: Yeah.
MALDONADO: It's going to come down to that.
(SOUNDBITE OF PACKAGES BEING OPENED)
FLAHIVE: Up ahead, teams of volunteers cut open 50-pound bags of white onions. Next to them, volunteers rush to break down pallets of limes, canned green beans, broccoli and yellow squash.
(SOUNDBITE OF BAGS RUSTLING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Squash going into this bag, so you're just going to keep on filling up squash.
FLAHIVE: More than 250 cars are already in line for food and more keep showing up.
ERIC COOPER: As the administration moves towards budget reconciliation, we have less food in our warehouse to serve lines like this.
FLAHIVE: San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper says his organization has lost $8 million in federal funding in Trump's first 100 days. SNAP helped more than 41 million people afford food in an average month in 2024, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research institute. If the spending bill ends up passing in the Senate, the center warns that expanded work requirements would strip food assistance from millions of Americans and food banks would have to step in to bridge the gap.
COOPER: The trickle down will be rationing. I'll take the food that we have here at the distribution, cut it in half and then basically give families less.
FLAHIVE: The reconciliation bill requires the states to pay a portion of the food benefit costs for the first time. And Northwestern University economist Diane Schanzenbach says if the U.S. sinks into a recession, states with shrinking revenues and must-balance budgets won't be able to afford it.
DIANE SCHANZENBACH: We'd be setting up a situation where, just when people are most needing SNAP benefits, they're hardest to get.
FLAHIVE: Back at the food distribution, the line is moments away from moving. Jesse Moncivaiz says every little bit helps for people like him.
JESSE MONCIVAIZ: And you go to the store, you get two bags. That's only like $50. You ain't got nothing in them. I think these lines are going to get longer if they cut everything.
FLAHIVE: Lines of cars filled with hungry people that may end up getting less food.
For NPR News, I'm Paul Flahive in San Antonio.
(SOUNDBITE OF MASTON'S "LES MONSTRES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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