Second Harvest Heartland Warns OBBB Cuts Will Deepen Hunger in Minnesota
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” slashes SNAP and Medicaid funding nationwide, jeopardizing food access for hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans. Second Harvest Heartland’s Make Hunger History initiative remains committed to cutting hunger in half by 2030, but warns that federal policy changes are putting that goal at serious risk.
Second Harvest Heartland distributed more than 145 million meals to Minnesotans facing hunger last year, setting a new record following years of steady growth in demand for emergency food assistance here and around the country. In the face of this rising demand, we launched the Make Hunger History initiative, which aims to cut hunger in half for all Minnesotans by 2030 by working with partners throughout the state to deliver critical food assistance today and create pathways to economic stability over time.
However, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBB), signed into law on July 4, made achieving that worthy goal a lot more challenging. That’s because, in addition to cutting Medicaid by over $1 trillion, the OBBB cuts SNAP spending by nearly $200 billion over the next decade, the largest-ever cut to the nation’s biggest and most effective anti-hunger program.
In Minnesota alone, SNAP helps around 450,000 people afford groceries by providing, on average, just over $5 per person per day in benefits — money which is spent at food retailers, helping boost local economies throughout the state. In fact, estimates show that for every dollar in SNAP spending, $1.50 or more is generated locally.
And yet, instead of working to strengthen SNAP, Congress chose to do just the opposite.
New SNAP work requirements for adults between the ages of 55 and 64 and families with children over the age of 14 will eliminate or reduce benefits for up to 150,000 Minnesotans in the near term. On top of that, states will have limited ability to seek exemptions for these work requirements for people facing homelessness or those living in areas of high unemployment, disproportionately affecting Minnesotans of color.
What’s more, for the first time ever, the federal government will no longer cover 100% of SNAP benefit costs. Instead, states will pay anywhere between 5-15% of benefits costs going forward, depending on their SNAP error rate (which the USDA defines as unintentional mistakes, not fraud).
Additionally, Minnesota counties will now have to shoulder 75% of the cost of administering SNAP, up from 50%, which has led to fears of widespread property tax increases to cover the shortfall.
Meanwhile, the federal government further cuts back on its share of the costs by hindering adjustments to the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines minimum SNAP benefits by calculating the minimum costs of a healthy diet — a change which is projected to cut future benefits by as much as $30 billion, affecting all 450,000 SNAP recipients in Minnesota.
These cuts could not come at a worse time. As we know from Second Harvest Heartland’s Statewide Hunger Study, one-in-five Minnesota households are already food insecure, meaning they are unable to afford all the groceries they need to feed themselves and their families. Deep disparities are at play as well, with 40% of households of color experiencing food insecurity compared to 16% of white households in our state.
Minnesotans could have an opportunity to advocate for policies to mitigate the steep impacts of these cuts as early as this fall, if state lawmakers in St. Paul hold a so-called “special legislative session” to address the new state budget shortfall created by the OBBB’s deep cuts to SNAP and Medicaid.
Additionally, Congressional Republicans intend to propose a so-called “skinny” Farm Bill, which would address nutrition and farming provisions the OBBB did not, including The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which is a critical source of food for food banks and the food shelves alike.
Whether you’re contacting state lawmakers in St. Paul or your federal representatives in Washington, DC, now is the time to make your voice heard. The more Minnesotans contact their lawmakers to advocate for effective anti-hunger policies, the more they will have to listen. And the more they listen, the more they can do to give families facing hunger a fighting chance — and help cut hunger in half for all Minnesotans by 2030.
Community Voices is a series created to amplify the voices of local organizations committed to dismantling disparities in Minnesota. This contribution is authored by Zach Rodvold, the director of public affairs at Second Harvest Heartland. For more information, visit www.2harvest.org.