Feeding Pennsylvania statement on Congress passing budget reconciliation legislation

Feeding Pennsylvania Statement on behalf of its nine member food banks. 

Families, seniors, and veterans in our community work hard every day to build better lives – but they need a strong foundation to succeed. Access to food and healthcare is that foundation. Yet, today, Republicans in Congress voted to reduce access to food assistance and healthcare for millions of Americans.

Cuts to SNAP will result in hundreds of thousands of people losing some or all of their benefits. Rural communities and children will be most impacted. In Pennsylvania alone:

• Approximately 144,000 Pennsylvanians will lose SNAP benefits
• Nearly 50,000 farm families, 10,000 grocers and food retailers, and others along the food supply chain will be impacted by lost economic activity
• Approximately 310,000 Pennsylvanians will lose Medicaid coverage

The proposed SNAP cuts will eliminate 396 million meals for Pennsylvanians annually and likely cause thousands to lose access to the program entirely. Last year, the entire Feeding Pennsylvania network of food banks and pantries distributed 188 million meals. Simply put, Pennsylvania’s charitable food network will be unable to meet the growing demand. Cutting SNAP and other federal nutrition programs does not address hunger; it only harms our communities and puts more of our neighbors at risk. 

This legislation also eliminates SNAP-Ed, a program proven to improve health outcomes for low-income families. Every $1 spent on SNAP-Ed saved $10.64 in future health care costs. This is another setback to our neighbors facing food insecurity, who may now also lose their healthcare due to Medicaid cuts.

Pennsylvanians will now have to rely on an already under-resourced charitable food network to help reduce the harm this bill will cause. Standing united with neighbors facing hunger, Feeding PA recognizes the need to collaborate with lawmakers on investing in other federal agricultural anti-hunger programs. While we continue to work to strengthen support for neighbors facing hunger in every congressional district across the Commonwealth, our network of food banks will continue to serve them.

Feeding PA thanks members of Pennsylvania’s delegation who voted no: Representatives Fitzpatrick, Boyle, Evans, Dean, Scanlon, Houlahan, Lee, and Deluzio, and Senator Fetterman.