State Budget memo: Food assistance cuts proposed by Congress would cost Michigan around $900 million
The more than $290 billion cuts to federal food assistance programming being passed through Congress in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will cost Michigan about $900 million, the Michigan State Budget Office found this week.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called attention to the memo from the State Budget Office Wednesday, estimating the losses anticipated for Michigan. The Republican-championed spending bill cleared the U.S. House in May, with Whitmer warning in a news release that if the bill, backed by President Donald Trump, makes it through the U.S. Senate, 42 million Americans who rely on food assistance could go hungry.
'No one should go to bed hungry in Michigan or anywhere in [the] wealthiest, most powerful country in the world,' Whitmer said in the news release Wednesday. 'In Michigan, we will fight to make sure our kids and families are fed, but we need Republicans in our congressional delegation to step up for their own constituents who need SNAP and Medicaid to survive. If these cuts are signed into law, more Michiganders will go to bed with a pit in their stomach. That's unacceptable.'
The memo from the State Budget Office, or SBO, says it reviewed the potential impacts of the cuts with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, or MDHHS and found that it was unlikely that the state could backfill the impacted food assistance programs without devastating education, public safety and Medicaid spending.
About 15% of Michigan's population, or nearly 1.5 million residents, rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which is on Congress' chopping block, the SBO memo said. More than 59% of the state's SNAP recipients are families with children and nearly half of state recipients are for working families.
Members of the food insecurity, religious and other equity groups joined in chorus, offering statements of condemnation for the proposed cuts to food insecurity programming in the Wednesday news release from Whitmer's office.
The federal plan is 'cruel and unconscionable', Pastor Richard R. White III, President of the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit & Vicinity, said in a statement.
'These cuts will rip vital support away from countless Michiganders—children, seniors, working families, and the most vulnerable among us—at a time when they need it most. For those we serve, who already struggle to put food on the table, this is not just a policy decision—it is a moral failure,' White said in the statement. 'This decision is a direct assault on the dignity and survival of millions of Americans. We call on all people of conscience to oppose these cuts and demand policies that uplift, not abandon, those most in need.'
More than 39% of SNAP recipients have family members who are elderly or living with a disability and more than half a million of Michigan's children receive SNAP benefits, according to the SBO.
Food pantries and food banks in Michigan will see even higher demand for nutrition assistance than what they already struggle to serve, representatives of Feeding America West Michigan and Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes said in the governor's news release.
'Many are already facing higher costs at the grocery store, along with the growing price of housing, childcare, and healthcare. More families will be skipping meals, falling behind on rent, and giving up other essentials to try and make ends meet,' Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes said in a statement.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Morning Bid: Tech wrecks the party
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Rae Wee Markets in Europe were set for a dour opening on Wednesday, after a slump on Wall Street pushed Asian shares into the red, with technology stocks leading the decline. While there was no immediate trigger, analysts pointed to a confluence of factors, such as doubts over the lofty valuations of tech heavyweights and President Donald Trump's growing influence over the sector. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the government taking equity stakes in Intel as well as other chip companies in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act that was meant to spur factory-building around the country, sources told Reuters. The move comes on the back of other unusual deals Washington has recently struck with U.S. companies, including allowing AI chip giant Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government receiving 15% of those sales. The government's intervention in corporate matters has worried critics who say Trump's actions create new categories of corporate risk and that a bad bet could mean a hit to taxpayer funds. "This U.S. state/Presidential creep into tech, and the wider private sector, is unhealthy as it threatens to erode margins and dent demand/topline," said Mizuho's head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan Vishnu Varathan. Asia's tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan and South Korea slid 2.6% and 1.7%, respectively, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures shed 0.7%. Nasdaq futures were down 0.5%. Apart from the tech gloom, traders in London will be waking up to UK inflation figures, where expectations are for headline consumer prices to have picked up slightly in July on an annual basis. Inflation in Britain remains the highest of any major advanced economy and is around one percentage point more than in the United States or the euro zone. Any upside surprise would prove a headache for the Bank of England, with economists polled by Reuters expecting the central bank to cut interest rates by a quarter-point once more this year and then again in early 2026. Elsewhere in markets, the New Zealand dollar tumbled on Wednesday after the central bank cut rates and flagged further reductions in coming months as policymakers warned of domestic and global headwinds. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said the economy had stalled in the second quarter, and lowered its projected floor for the cash rate to 2.55%, from 2.85% forecast in May. Key developments that could influence markets on Wednesday: - UK inflation (July) - FOMC July meeting minutes - Fed's Waller, Bostic speak Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US budget deficit forecast $1 trillion higher over next decade, watchdog says
By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. federal budget deficits will be nearly $1 trillion higher over the next decade than projected in January by the Congressional Budget Office as a result of tax and spending legislation and tariffs, a budget watchdog said on Wednesday. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's latest forecasts show a cumulative deficit of $22.7 trillion from fiscal 2026 to 2035, compared to the CBO's January forecast of $21.8 trillion, which was based on laws and policies that were in place before U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January. The CBO, Congress' non-partisan budget referee agency, said on Monday that it will not issue its customary mid-year budget update this year and will issue its next 10-year budget and economic outlook in early 2026, offering no explanation for the move. The CRFB, which advocates for deficit reduction, projected a $1.7 trillion deficit in fiscal 2025 or 5.6% of GDP, down slightly from $1.83 trillion in 2024 and the CBO's 2025 projection of $1.87 trillion in January. But it said deficits steadily rise over the decade, reaching $2.6 trillion or 5.9% of GDP by 2035. The new CRFB estimates include the budget effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act tax and spending bill, as well as Trump's tariffs that are currently in place. But like CBO, they do not include the dynamic economic effects on growth from these changes, a forecasting rule that has drawn criticism from the Trump administration. The group projects the tax cut and spending bill to increase deficits, including interest, by $4.6 trillion through 2035, adding another year to the CBO's $4.1 trillion cost estimate through 2034. But CRFB estimates that this will be offset by $3.4 trillion worth of extra import duty revenue over the next decade due to Trump's new tariffs that are currently in place. New rules restricting eligibility for health insurance subsidies will reduce deficits by another $100 billion through 2035, and Congress' rescission of prior funding to foreign aid, public broadcasting and other programs would save another $100 billion if sustained over a decade, CRFB said. Net interest payments on the national debt will total $14 trillion over the decade, CRFB projected, rising from nearly $1 trillion or 3.2% of GDP in 2025 to $1.8 trillion or 4.1% of GDP in 2035. TARIFF CHALLENGE The forecasts are based on legislative and tariff changes since January but keep CBO's economic forecasts unchanged. Under an alternative scenario forecast by CRFB, the budget picture looks far worse, boosting deficits nearly $7 trillion higher than the CBO baseline. This scenario would see a significant part of Trump's tariffs canceled if the Court of International Trade's ruling against many of Trump's new tariffs is upheld, cutting $2.4 trillion from revenues over a decade. The alternative scenario also assumes extension of a number of temporary tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including tax breaks on overtime, tips, Social Security income and car loan interest, higher state and local tax deduction allowances and full expensing of factory investments, adding $1.7 trillion to deficits over 10 years. CRFB's alternative scenario also ditches the CBO's projection of a decline in 10-year U.S. Treasury yields over the decade to about 3.8%. If that interest rate stays at the current level of about 4.3%, interest costs would grow by about $1.6 trillion through 2035, CRFB said. The total 2035 debt-to-GDP ratio would grow from 118% in the CBO January baseline to 120% under the CRFB's projected baseline scenario and 134% under the CRFB's alternative scenario. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The show's feud with the Trump White House isn't letting up.
The Trump administration's D.C. crackdown is set to be among South Park's next targets after a preview of its upcoming episode was dropped on Tuesday. The official South Park X account posted a brief preview of the episode that featured a wide-eyed recurring character, 'Towelie.' Towelie, who first appeared on season five of the show and is known for his penchant for smoking marijuana, is seen getting off a bus right outside the White House in the episode, titled 'Sickofancy.' The episode airs on Comedy Central on Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
