The House Agriculture Committee approved cutting as much as $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP, the nation’s main food assistance program.
Earlier this week, the committee voted 29-25 along party lines to force states to share the cost of SNAP benefits. According to POLITICO, GOP leaders said they plan to use those funds to help pay for $60 billion in Farm Bill programs.
Emily Weikert Bryant, executive director of Feeing Indiana’s Hungry, said the loss is devastating.
“Benefits will be cut,” she said. “People will be hungry, and it's largely disastrous.”
Read more: Braun launches 'Make Indiana Healthy Again' initiative, makes significant changes to SNAP
Bryant estimated that 128,000 heads of Indiana households who are 18-64 years old with school aged children are at risk of losing benefits by 2028.
She further said because of how many people could be affected by the cuts, area food banks won’t be able to make up for the loss.
Read more: USDA cuts could limit local food assistance
“The proposal they have is dismantling the cornerstone of hunger relief in this country,” she said. “For every one meal that a Feeding America affiliate food bank distributes, SNAP provides nine.”
The larger bill that includes the cuts failed to proceed in the House on Friday morning and goes back to the committee.
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