Significant Cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and Taxes Signed Into Law

• Medicaid spending will reduce by $930 billion over the next ten years, meaning an additional 11.8 million people will be uninsured.
• SNAP spending will reduce by $156 billion over ten years. The bill shifts higher SNAP costs onto states, disproportionately affecting low-income states. It also eliminates important work reporting exemptions for people experiencing homelessness, youth exiting foster care, and veterans—more info on that below.
• Pell Grants and Student Loan eligibility will be drastically limited, including for students who receive scholarships, federal aid, institutional aid, or state aid up to the cost of attendance, and to many non-citizens who are currently eligible, including refugees, survivors of human trafficking, and people granted asylum.
• Taxes for the wealthiest households will be reduced, decreasing the revenue we have available to spend on important social programs.

In an effort to reduce spending on SNAP by enforcing more stringent work requirements, Congress eliminated an important work reporting exemption for youth exiting foster care, people experiencing homelessness, and veterans. This exemption allowed youth in unstable situations to immediately access food benefits. While some youth experiencing homelessness or exiting foster care already have jobs, some don’t, and are therefore in a very vulnerable position. By eliminating this work reporting exemption, Congress is withholding access to basic nutrition from these young people in need.

National Network for Youth was proud to work alongside our national partners, Child Welfare League of America, Youth Law Center, and SchoolHouse Connection, to advocate against this elimination. We sincerely thank everyone in our networks who signed our letter to Congress and who reached out to their Representatives on this issue. We weren’t successful this time, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over—we will keep you updated as we re-strategize how to bring back this important protection for people experiencing homelessness, former foster youth, and veterans.

You may see some reporting that touts the success of reconciliation in reducing wasteful government spending. Republican talking points emphasize that by cutting spending across federal programs, they are saving the taxpayers billions of dollars. However, this narrative is highly misleading.

Estimates from the highly-renowned Penn Wharton Budget Model (along with others, including the Congressional Budget Office, the Brookings Institute, and more) find that:

1. The sweeping tax cuts (which overwhelmingly benefit top-income earners) will increase our nation’s deficit by $4.3 trillion over the next ten years.
2. Increases in spending for certain areas such as border security and immigration will increase the deficit by $287 billion over the next ten years.
3. Cuts to programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and student loans will reduce spending by $1.4 trillion over the next ten years.
4. This leads to an overall deficit increase of $3.2 trillion over the next ten years.
5. Who does this benefit? According to Penn Wharton’s estimates: “The top 10 percent of the income distribution receives about 80 percent of the total value of the legislation… On a dynamic lifetime basis, lower-income households and some in the middle class are worse off, as are all future generations.”