Millions more Americans could turn to food banks soon. Food banks are simply not ready. [View all]

Source: Politico

07/06/2025 07:00 AM EDT
Updated: 07/06/2025 10:52 AM EDT


Food banks say they are wholly unprepared to feed millions of Americans when Republicans’ cuts to traditional federal safety net programs take effect. The GOP’s megabill slashes more than $1 trillion from the nation’s largest food aid program and Medicaid, with some of the cuts taking effect as early as this year. Low-income people grappling with higher costs of living could be forced to turn to emergency food assistance.

In preparation, food bank leaders are trying to convince private foundations and state leaders to give them more money. Some states like Minnesota and Pennsylvania have already been weighing shifting additional resources to emergency food programs or standing up new initiatives to counter the loss of federal dollars. That still won’t be enough.

According to Feeding America, the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program alone would eliminate 6 billion to 9 billion meals annually — roughly the same number of meals the food bank network provided last year. Those food banks would need to double their operations to close the gap SNAP leaves behind.

“There is no world in which I can imagine we double ourselves, into perpetuity,” Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks wrote in a text message.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/06/food-banks-struggle-republican-megabill-safety-net-slash-00439972