Durbin, Duckworth Join Senate Democrats To Warn Americans About Republicans Cutting SNAP Benefits To Give Tax Breaks To Billionaires
In an open letter to the American public, Senate Democrats emphasize that Republicans’ plan to give tax breaks to billionaires will decimate funding for SNAP
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senate Democrats, led by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), in sending an open letter to the American public warning that congressional Republicans are trying to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in order to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. After promising to lower prices for families, Republicans in Congress are instead raising grocery costs and making it harder for families to put food on the table.
“Congress should not give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans by taking away food assistance from millions of Americans,” wrote the Senators.
“SNAP supports 42 million Americans, including nearly 8 million seniors, 16 million children, 4 million people with disabilities, and 1.2 million veterans, in putting food on their tables each month. Cuts of this magnitude—or anything close to it—would be devastating to American families in every state,” the Senators continued.
Along with Durbin, Duckworth, and Klobuchar, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Patty Murray (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Coons (D-CT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-MN), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), John Fetterman (D-PA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD).
Earlier this week, Durbin joined leaders from the Lessie Bates Davis Foodbank to discuss the impact of the Trump Administration’s cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on food pantries. USDA has halted $1 billion from the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA), which reimburses states for purchasing fresh produce from local farmers, which is then distributed to food pantries like the St. Louis Area Foodbank. Without this federal funding, the IL-EATS program, which is funded through USDA’s LFPA program, has been suspended, causing more than 175 small Illinois farmers and hundreds of food banks throughout the state to be left in the lurch.
The full text of the letter is below and can be found here.
April 14, 2025
An open letter to the public:
The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are planning to give another round of tax handouts to the ultra-wealthy and corporations paid for by gutting the food assistance that helps American families pay for groceries at a time when they are struggling to afford food, health care, housing, and other household basic needs. If enacted, cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will have severe consequences for millions of veterans, seniors, children, and hard-working farmers.
We write to make our position on this legislation perfectly clear: Congress should not give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans by taking away food assistance from millions of Americans.
Earlier this year, both the House and the Senate passed budget bills that pave the way for deep cuts to SNAP. The House budget bill would require at least $230 billion in cuts. The Senate bill sets a floor of $1 billion in cuts with nothing to prevent it from going as high as the House bill. This would be a more than 20 percent cut to a program that helps millions of struggling families afford groceries.
SNAP supports 42 million Americans, including nearly 8 million seniors, 16 million children, 4 million people with disabilities, and 1.2 million veterans, in putting food on their tables each month. Cuts of this magnitude—or anything close to it—would be devastating to American families in every state. SNAP benefits currently average only $6.20 per person per day. At a time when people across the country are struggling with the high cost of groceries, a cut of this magnitude could result in an immediate increase in food costs, dropping the annual, per person SNAP benefit by over $500 per year per person.
Congressional Republicans might claim that their plan is to merely require states to pay for a portion of food benefits for the first time. In truth, such an unprecedented cost shift could force states to cut benefits, severely restrict program eligibility, or both. If combined with a similar Medicaid cost shift, these unfunded mandates could decimate state budgets and cut healthcare and food assistance for millions of Americans.
Taking away SNAP would also hurt the farmers who grow our food, the manufacturers that package it, truckers who distribute it, and small businesses in our communities that sell it. Each SNAP dollar stimulates the economy: every $1.00 in food assistance provided by the program in a weak economy generates an additional $1.50 in economic activity. Because adequate nutrition is so important for children’s health and development, the long-term return on investment is even greater: every $1.00 invested in SNAP for children returns $62 in value. In 2020 alone, SNAP supported 200,000 grocery industry jobs and created nearly 45,000 new jobs in supporting industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and municipal services.
Republicans are writing the most consequential tax and budget legislation in decades entirely behind closed doors. That’s because Trump and Congressional Republicans must hide the ugly truth—their legislation feeds corporate and wealthy individuals’ greed by taking food assistance away for tens of millions of Americans. You, your family, and your neighbors deserve far better.
Democrats are fighting to protect Americans’ ability to feed their families from Republican cuts.
Join us and keep up the fight.
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