5 days ago
At an Ohio food bank, fears that Republican cuts will overwhelm an overstretched program
Volunteers bring food to waiting cars at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church Food Pantry in Columbus. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Ohio's food banks are strained as it is. Huge cuts to the safety net signed into law in recent days could overwhelm them, the director of a Columbus food bank said last week.
President Donald Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' cut trillions in taxes — mostly for the richest Americans — added trillions to the federal debt, and it cut more than $1 trillion in spending on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
In acknowledgement of the program's unpopularity, some of the most painful of the benefit cuts won't take effect until after the 2026 midterms. But some, such as administratively burdensome work requirements, could cost large numbers their food benefits.
In addition, the state budget Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed on June 30 provides $7.5 million less for food banks compared to last year.
Those cuts are on top of other recent cuts and as more families are in need because of the expiration of covid-era benefits, said Kathy Kelly-Long, director of the food pantry at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus.
'As the pandemic credits expired, our numbers kept growing,' she said one morning last week as volunteers bustled in and out of the pantry.
While the pantry served an average of 35 families a day at the height of the pandemic in June 2021, it served an average of 58 last month. That's a 66% increase.
Among the cuts pantries have already suffered, one was the U.S. Department of Agriculture's cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program on June 30. That program enabled food banks to buy directly from nearby farmers. It fell under the budget axe of an unofficial agency that Trump assigned the world's richest man to run.
'A lot of those farmers relied on those funds — built some of their business around that,' Kelly-Long said. 'A guy who was here yesterday said they lost $25,000 worth of business when (the program) went out. So there's an economic cost because that's $25,000 worth of fresh, locally grown produce that's not being distributed to low-income families who don't have access to it.'
But her main concern is for the clients the pantry serves.
'We can't even begin to calculate what the loss of SNAP dollars and Medicaid will mean to people,' Kelly-Long said. 'Because the system is already broken, we can't get enough food in now. If the numbers go up, we don't know how much food people will be able to get from us. Will it be anywhere near enough to feed their families?'
Among those clients are many hard-working people.
'There's a lovely woman who's been shopping here for years,' Kelly-Long said. 'She's raised multiple grandchildren. She works a full-time job on second shift. She comes here to have enough food to get by for the week.'
Not only has the woman worked to carry her own weight and raised two generations of children, 'she's the one the neighbors always turn to when they need help,' Kelly-Long said.
As people lose health insurance and food benefits — and as food banks are less able to serve them — they'll turn to cheaper, less nutritious sustenance, Kelly-Long said.
'It leads to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension,' she said. 'We already have diet-related disease in this country. If you have more people eating cheap food because they need the calories, but don't get the nutrients, it's going to be compounded.'
She said she was frustrated by a lack of interest from U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted. Both are Ohio Republicans who voted for the deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
'I've made multiple phone calls and have yet to talk to a real person,' Kelly-Long said. 'Sen. Moreno, Sen. Husted, all of the emails I've sent, I get the same email back from the two of them, which indicates that somebody on their staff may have read it, but maybe not.'
She added that lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and Columbus fail when they pass bills that only benefit the few.
'To me, our legislators are not doing their job,' Kelly-Long said. 'They were elected to represent the people in their districts — all of the people in their districts. And when they make decisions that benefit just a few people and harm the majority, that's not doing their jobs.'
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