Inside the Fight to Save SNAP and Medicaid
Experts also warn that some states will begin preemptively taking action to cut benefits ahead of time—many states have legislatures that meet on a biannual basis, and have constitutional mandates to balance their state budgets, meaning that they have a limited window to address the looming federal changes. It could also lead to states making decisions to cut other programs: Carolyn Vega, the associate director for policy analysis for the hunger relief organization Share Our Strength pointed to Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to line-item veto $60 million in the state budget for a program providing free meals for low-income children last month, citing uncertainty about federal funding.
“We certainly don’t want to see more states going down that road of avoiding other really beneficial programs to fight hunger because of concern about how they’re going to fund SNAP,” said Vega.
Advocates say they will need to engage with lawmakers at a state and federal level to mitigate the damage. In the immediate future, said Vega, her organization wants to ensure that further cuts to programs like SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children are not cut further in the annual appropriations process. That kind of advocacy involves “staying in touch with lawmakers and making sure that they continue to hear about how damaging these cuts were, and hear about the impact that it’s going to have on their constituents,” Vega said.
Given the delayed implementation of many provisions, some organizations and lobbyists are hoping that the measure will be either repealed or adjusted even before they have the chance to go into effect. Congress never implemented certain parts of the Affordable Care Act, such as a tax on “Cadillac” insurance companies.
As states try to figure out how to implement these provisions over the next few years, Lister said advocates can try to focus on “mitigating harm.” “If that means further being able to delay provisions, great. If that means creating more hurdles and more friction, great,” said Lister. “It’s really a ‘time will tell’ [situation], and I think states will have a big role to play, and I think and hope will have louder voices as they try to implement some of these that will help us in the national conversation.”
