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| 2019 State of the Union, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76391458 |
This, as far as I can tell, appears to be the Republican's best offer on ending the shutdown:
If you won't let us take away their health care in January, then we'll take away their food support starting Saturday.
In the moment, with vulnerable American's health on the line, I feel like that indicates that elected Republican officeholders are terrible people; I could be wrong …it could just be what I regard as bad behavior.
SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of the United States government — an expression of our collective commitment to ensure that Americans don't suffer because of food insecurity.
Before a few paragraphs about who we're talking about when we talk about Americans who depend on SNAP benefits, note that Feeding America is one of the alliances geared up to channel emergency food assistance to Americans who are losing that assistance starting this weekend.
If you have the means and the heart to pitch in, you can do it here.
So, who are we talking about when we talk about Americans who need supplemental food assistance?
- We're talking about roughly 12% of Americans — about 42,000,000 of our neighbors — about one in nine of us.
- 73% have incomes at or below the poverty line.
- 80% are vulnerable because of age, and/or disability, and/or responsibility for children in their household.
- A third are children under 18.
- More than a third are white.
- More than half are women.
- The highest percentage of residents relying on SNAP by state, live in New Mexico, Louisiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Oregon, (and the District of Columbia, which, though it has a home rule charter, is effectively governed by the U.S. Congress because Congress owns, and has often exercised authority over DC laws, budget, and governing structure, and can revoke home rule altogether).
- More SNAP recipients live in rural America than urban America.
More than 20% of residents in 11% of urban counties receive SNAP benefits.
More than 20% of residents in 23% of rural counties receive SNAP benefits.
On which subject: Rural food stores are about to join farmers in taking a major hit from this administration’s policies.
In rural counties, 82% of food stores are community-focused small businesses for which SNAP purchases account for between 30% and 70% of revenues.
[Walmart will be fine (even if shareholders get spanked). But Walmart isn’t everywhere. In Alabama, 40+ out of 67 counties — all rural — don’t have a Walmart. In Colorado, 40+ out of 64 counties are Walmart-less. And so it goes across the country in states with a significant number of rural counties (which is most of them).
[In some instances, the nearest Walmart isn’t all that far away — *if* you have reliable transportation … and gas money … and think 10 miles isn’t that far….]
Now, small grocers in rural counties, who work on margins of 3%, are looking down the barrel of a gun that’s about to blow away 35% of November revenues — maybe more. Expect to see reduced hours, layoffs, and higher than expected store closures, along with unanticipated decreases in local tax revenues in rural America.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Two more things:
One.
In 2019, halfway through the first Trump administration, The Economic Research Service at the USDA found that, during a slowing economy, a hypothetical $1 billion increase in SNAP benefits would increase the U.S. Gross Domestic Product by $1.54 billion … and support 13,560 jobs … and boost agricultural revenues by $32 million — in the first year.
So, maybe, to earn 54 cents on a dollar invested, instead of *cutting* SNAP benefits in *this* slowed economy, we should maybe *increase* those benefits.
That would make sense to an administration focused on improving the economy for the common good, even if it meant not punishing poor people for being poor. But this administration would rather take the loss (but, then, it’s not really coming out of their pockets, is it….).
Two.
This is not a longterm solution at scale, but entering this engineered food emergency, Feeding America is one of the alliances geared up to channel immediate food assistance to Americans who are losing their qualified SNAP assistance.
That starts this weekend so in the moment, it seems sensible to help our neighbors in counties that are too sparsely or too densely populated to attract a Walmart or sustain independent food stores whose pockets are not that deep. Here’s the Feeding America link.
Sources
1. https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/characteristics-fy23
2. https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/characteristics-households-fy20-early-covid19-characteristics
3. https://www.traceone.com/resources/plm-compliance-blog/states-that-depend-most-on-food-assistance
4. http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research
5. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-receive-snap-benefits-in-the-us-every-month/country/united-states/
6. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/food-stamp-benefits-by-state#google_vignette
7. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/food-stamp-benefits-by-state
8. https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-cola-fy25.pdf
9. https://www.naco.org/articles/rural-areas-see-highest-snap-participation
11. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6836802/
14. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/07/29/snap-cuts-could-hurt-grocery-stores-nationwide
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_deserts_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Ver_Ploeg-2009-13
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