Opinion | Let them eat … nothing

Republicans’ attacks on the poor are set to reach a new low in coming weeks, as a Trump-backed spending bill takes a massive bite out of food assistance programs that feed the nation’s poorest citizens. 

U.S. House Republicans want to overhaul the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in an effort to trim the USDA budgets by at least $230 million. Their target, of course, is not the bloated subsidy programs that pour more than $30 billion annually mostly into mega-farms operated by profitable corporations, but the food programs that serve as a literal lifeline for some 40 million Americans, mostly children and families with children. 

To accomplish the cuts, Republicans want to place strict limits on future program increases, implement even more work requirements and push millions in costs to states – most of which can’t afford the added expenses and will be left removing thousands of otherwise qualified recipients. 

The cuts are so draconian and harmful that even the Trump White House has been hesitant to green light them, fearing a major pushback from red states that will be hit the hardest. Those states mostly already have in place the strictest SNAP requirements and also lack the necessary revenue to take on more costs. 

Not to mention: Many of the recipients who will be removed are Trump voters. 

Alabama is a fine example. 

The state already has some of the nation’s strictest requirements to qualify for SNAP benefits, and it has some of the lowest monthly payouts. The state already requires an able-bodied adult to work at least 80 hours per month to qualify for SNAP benefits – a requirement that makes it all but impossible for adults without children to qualify for the program. That’s why more than two-thirds of SNAP recipients in the state are families with children. 

There is little wiggle room in state budgets, particularly with Congress also pushing for deep cuts to Medicaid, which means additional costs pushed to Alabama will almost certainly result in some of the poorest citizens in the country being removed from the program. 

The pain has already started. 

Thanks to Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts, which ran roughshod through the nation’s various agencies, cutting and halting programs regardless of their performances, a number of food assistance programs were axed. Among those were the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which allocated more than $7 million to Alabama this year. The USDA did not disburse some of those funds after the DOGE cuts. 

The result: Entities like the Heart of Alabama Food Bank lost substantial funding (it lost more than $600,000) and 23 truck loads of food were canceled without notice. 

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have already ripped food away from vulnerable Alabamians – including children and the elderly,” said DNC Chairman Ken Martin. “Now, Trump and Republicans are pushing a budget that would cut food and nutrition programs by billions of dollars just to gift more tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy. 

“As grocery costs skyrocket and shelves are left empty, Trump is making it harder for Alabama families to put a warm meal on the table. As Alabamians brace for a Trump-made recession, Republicans are taking a sledge hammer to the programs that keep working families afloat during tough economic times.” 

There is no hyperbole in Martin’s statement. 

The USDA cuts are necessary to achieve the savings needed for the Trump administration’s goal of doling out more major tax breaks to the nation’s wealthiest citizens and again rolling back the corporate tax rate. 

In Alabama alone, some 750,000 people depend on SNAP for food. They are our state’s poorest, neediest citizens. 

Surely there is a lesson written in a book somewhere that would tell us to care for these people first, and also something about a rich man, a camel and a needle.