Local food bank worries what ‘big, beautiful bill' could mean for SNAP recipients
House Republicans have already passed the piece of legislation, which is titled 'One Big, Beautiful Bill.'
The bill would cut federal funding for SNAP by about $267 billion over a 10-year period. For the first time, individual states would be expected to make up that gap.
The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) held a briefing Thursday morning, where it announced the total cost for New York State would be over $2 billion.
The legislation also comes at a time when food insecurity is rising across the country. Local food banks, like FeedMore Western New York, thinks it could be a struggle to keep up.
'Over the last three years, we've seen a 46 percent increase,' said Collin Bishop, the chief communications officer at FeedMore WNY. 'We're already growing without any changes to SNAP'.
Bishop said the number of people who are in need of nutritional assistance in our community continues to grow and that the proposed bill could make it worse.
'If we add to that, we're taking away people's ability to purchase food from the grocery store on their own,' Bishop said. 'That's just going to add more to this charitable organization.'
ODTA said in Western New York, over 22,000 people are at risk of having reduced benefits or losing them completely.
Republican leaders are working to pass the bill in the Senate. It would then go back to the House of Representatives to approve any changes before it ultimately reaches Trump's desk.
Trina Catterson joined the News 4 team in 2024. She previously worked at WETM-TV in Elmira, a sister station of WIVB. See more of her work here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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