SNAP Benefits Invest in Our Future

House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump attempt to blame Democrats for the lapse of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to 42 million Americans during the government shutdown. Two courts ordered using emergency funds for SNAP, with one judge ordering full funding, orders Trump may or may not follow with partial SNAP benefits. This after a $20 billion bailout went to Trump’s ally in Argentina, a competitor of American soybean farmers.

But with Trump ignoring an offer from Democratic leaders to meet “anytime and anyplace,” and Johnson refusing to bring the House back into session to end the shutdown, that attempt is pretty lame.

Democrats demand this: Extend the premium tax credits for healthcare so the amount subsidized enrollees pay each month will remain about the same, even though the amount insurers are charging increases sharply. If tax credits expire at the end of this year, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that monthly premium payments will increase by about 114%, on average. Keep in mind we can “afford” tax cuts to billionaires.

Put simply, Republicans are withholding full SNAP benefits because Democrats want to protect healthcare for Americans like our Madrid neighbor, Philip Paige, whose recent insurance bill was 76% higher than a year ago. 

SNAP is an investment in the future. The gradual rollout of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 over a decade provided a “natural experiment.” This program, which was renamed “SNAP” in 2008, was part of President Johnson’s War on Poverty. In 2022, Standford University economists compared the life trajectories of 17.5 million people, some of whom received an earlier rollout of food stamps as children and others of similar demographics who didn’t. 

The results are stunning. Children who were well-fed before and after age five between 1961-1975 were more likely as adults to have greater economic self-sufficiency, a better standard of living, longer life-expectancy, and lower incarceration rates.

Today, children make up the largest subgroup of SNAP recipients (34.3%), followed by the elderly (33%), nonelderly with a disability (17.6%), and working-age, able-bodied adults (16.8%). Of the latter, 74% have worked in the last 12 months, and 89% of households with children included at least one member who worked. Many who were not working reported care-giving responsibilities. 

For the record, it has always been illegal for undocumented migrants to enroll in the ACA or Medicaid; accusing Democrats of wanting to insure “illegal aliens” is a lie. It’s you and your children they want to have insured---and fed.

This letter to the editor from SLC Democratic Chair Mike Zagrobelny and Vice-Chair Ginger Storey-Welch was submitted to North Country This Week and the Watertown Daily Times.