Children's advocates are crying foul after House Republicans called for $12 billion in cuts to school meal programs, including the Community Eligibility Provision that allows high-poverty school districts to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their ability to pay.

Erin Hysom, senior policy analyst with the Food Research and Action Center, said these funds are an important public investment, and added that no child can learn on an empty stomach.

"We hear from teachers all the time that when schools offer healthy school meals for all, behavior in the classroom improves. And their academics improve, and they're able to graduate and become more productive members of society," she said.

Some 75 Montana schools serving more than 10,000 students are projected to be impacted. The proposed cuts are part of a sweeping effort by Republicans to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the federal budget in order to pay for extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and other policy priorities including mass deportations.

Hysom said the Community Eligibility Provision has already reduced inefficiency and red tape, and cuts would send school nutrition directors away from kitchens and back to their desks to deal with unnecessary paperwork, and added that the move would also impact farm-to-school initiatives that put money directly into the pockets of local farms and ranches.

"They're able to meet with local agricultural producers and bring in local products that not only improve the nutrition of the meal but also support the local economy," she explained.

In the 2022-2023 school year, nearly 90 K-through-12 schools and after-school programs, and 31 early childhood education sites, were registered with Montana Farm to School, according to the group's annual report. The program reached nearly 22,000 children.

Hysom worries the cuts could also mean the return of lunch line shaming.

"And it really creates this stigma in the cafeteria. And so when we offer school meals to all children at no charge, it reduces that stigma," he expressed.


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Almost 3.5 million Texans utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase food.

The budget reconciliation bill recently signed into law by President Donald Trump cuts SNAP benefits by approximately $186 billion nationwide.

Celia Cole, CEO of the nonprofit Feeding Texas, said the state has three options to make up for the $800 million needed to keep the program operating at its current rate.

"Raising new revenue, which is not going to happen in a state like Texas, or diverting revenue from other essential services or simply cutting benefits," Cole outlined. "Worst case scenario, just walking away from the program entirely."

She pointed out the cuts will push seniors, veterans, working parents and children further into poverty. Even with SNAP benefits, more than 17% of Texans experienced food insecurity last year.

Feeding Texas is a network of food banks assisting Texans in all 254 counties across the state. Cole noted they are helping as many people now as they did during the pandemic and cuts in the federal budget will only increase the need for help.

"For every meal food banks put on the table, SNAP puts nine meals on the table," Cole emphasized. "It's the most effective way to get food to people in need. We are going to be reaching out to our supporters, our donors from philanthropy to corporations to the state government to try and make up for as much of the loss as we can."

She added fallout from the cuts will also negatively affect farmers, grocers and the overall Texas economy.

"It's not the way to go about balancing a budget," Cole argued. "We've said this before, a budget is a moral document and this one clearly fails the test."


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Now that President Donald Trump's big budget bill has been signed into law, Arkansas nonprofits that rely on federal funding to help people in need are trying to figure out how they will continue to serve their clients.

The legislation calls for cutting billions of dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Lance Whitney, advocacy director with Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, said it would cost food banks across the state almost $46 million a year to continue to help those who face food insecurity.

"That does not include the cost of increased capacity needed to serve those individuals," said Whitney, "like in warehouse space, the vehicles the staffing to hand out that, the refrigeration. With those included it would ramp it up to an additional probably $10 million."

Whitney predicted that children, veterans, caregivers, and older adults in Arkansas will suffer the most because of the cuts. Arkansas has the highest food insecurity rate in the nation.

The federal government will start cost-sharing with states for SNAP benefits in 2027. The amount the government contributes to administrative costs will be cut from 50% to 25%, leaving states responsible for 75% of the total cost.

Whitney said state and local governments will have to divert money from other essential services to cover SNAP benefits.

"It can't be ignored when you have people who can't eat, health care that's going down, school lunches that can't be provided for," said Whitney. "So every community, every person in the state of Arkansas - whether you're a SNAP recipient or a Medicaid recipient, or just a community person - you're going to have a challenge with this."

The legislation expands work requirements for older adults and parents with children age seven and older.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, that could take food assistance away from more than three million adults a month.





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Oregon lawmakers would have to find an extra $850 million in the state budget starting in 2028 to cover cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill just signed by President Donald Trump.

Alex Aghdaei, policy analyst and outreach coordinator with Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, said the bill is projected to cause an estimated 100,000 Oregonians to lose SNAP coverage by 2034.

He said policymakers will face some hard choices going forward.

"We believe that there is no other option than to find the funding," said Aghdaei, "because our state simply cannot abandon the one-in-eight of all Oregonians that rely on this program to feed their families."

Aghdaei added that the bill makes more people subject to a work requirement, even though 83% of Oregon Trail Card users are already employed.

It also requires people to verify their eligibility more often, and it cuts the amount the federal government reimburses for the administrative costs of SNAP.

Aghdaei said low-income families will face similar paperwork obstacles to maintain coverage under the Oregon Health Plan because of huge cuts to Medicaid.

"Make no mistake, this bill will kill," said Aghdaei. "The level of cuts that the SNAP program will experience, in addition to Medicaid and other essential services, is frankly unheard of, and the impact in Oregon will stretch far across the state."

The legislature just concluded its 2-year session, but lawmakers will begin to address these issues in the short session next February.





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