Even before Trump cuts, food benefits inadequate in every Ohio county, analysis says
The tax and spending cuts bill signed on July 4 by President Donald Trump will impose the deepest cuts in history to the federal food safety net in Ohio and other states. Even before those cuts hit, the benefits don’t cover the average cost of food in 99% of counties in the United States — and none in Ohio, according to a new analysis by the Urban Institute.
The bill Trump signed will provide an estimated $1 trillion in tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans over 10 years and add $3.8 trillion to the deficit.
Those deficits would be even higher if the new law didn’t slash more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. And they might be forced even higher as millions of hungry, newly uninsured Americans require medical treatment, but can’t pay.
The report released Wednesday said that almost everywhere in the United States, Trump’s bill will cut food benefits that were already inadequate.
“With food prices persistently elevated and SNAP benefits failing to cover the cost of even a modestly priced meal in recent years, the One Big Beautiful Bill’s changes are expected to increase food insecurity and poverty for millions of Americans,” the report’s authors, Poonam Gupta and Elaine Waxman, said in a blog post.
The researchers used data from NielsenIQ in to determine modest food prices each U.S. county. They compared them to maximum SNAP benefits, which average $2.84 per meal.
They found that on average, that modestly priced meal was 20% more expensive than the maximum benefit, and that monthly benefits fell short of meal costs by $53.01.
That might not sound like much. But this is a program under which a family of three can’t make more than $33,576 a year to qualify for any benefits. So they’re likely to have a hard time paying other basic expenses as well.
In all, the researchers found, SNAP benefits fall short in 99% of U.S. counties.
“That means there’s virtually nowhere in the US where a family who qualifies for even the largest benefit (nearly 40 percent of all SNAP recipients) can reliably afford food,” they wrote.
In Ohio, many of the biggest shortfalls are in the northeast.
Cuyahoga County appears to have the biggest, with meal costs exceeding maximum benefits by 40%. In Geauga County, the gap is 39%. In Medina it’s 35%, and in Summit it’s 33%.
By comparison, in Franklin and Hamilton counties the gaps are 27% and 24%, respectively.
Many of the smallest gaps are in the rural counties of north-central and western Ohio. Hardin County appears to have the smallest, at 1%, while in Van Wert County it’s 4%.
As the One Big Beautiful Bill Act takes away money for nutrition, it uses specific mechanisms to do it, the researchers said.
“The new law undermines SNAP’s ability to reduce food insecurity and help families put food on the table in several ways,” they wrote. “It requires, for the first time, that states fund part of benefit costs, imposes work requirements for and associated time limits on receiving benefits for older adults and families with older children, and eliminates eligibility for lawfully residing humanitarian immigrants.”
They added, “Another concerning provision requires that updates to the program market basket, known as the Thrifty Food Plan, be cost neutral. SNAP benefits are already too low to cover food costs, and this requirement will make it even harder to increase benefits to a level that is enough to help families afford food.
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