As it continues to move through Congress, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is raising concerns from hunger relief advocates across North Carolina.
That's because of its proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, also known as food stamps. According to Governor Josh Stein’s office, SNAP currently provides food assistance to 1.4 million people in the state—with about half of these being children.
But, the changes approved by the U.S. Senate Tuesday could significantly limit that support. These include shifting millions of dollars in benefit payments to the state and adding work requirements for "able-bodied" beneficiaries, with some exceptions.
Jason Kanawati Stephany is vice president of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC, which serves about 40% of the state's population. He said these changes don't reflect the reality of people who benefit from SNAP.
"Four out of every five households that participate in SNAP participate in SNAP because there are children, people with disabilities, seniors in the household," he said. "Of the remainder, almost everyone reports income to the IRS."
According to Kanawati Stephany, North Carolina is already facing a hunger crisis. He said they see double digit increases in the number of families seeking food assistance on a year-to-year basis. Currently, the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC sees about 600,000 people.
If the changes to SNAP pass as is, it's uncertain whether North Carolina could sustain the program. The Governor's office estimated that under the Senate plan, the state would pay $420 million annually to the federal government.
"If North Carolina cannot pay that share, we could be forced to end our SNAP program entirely," Stein said in a letter to the House Wednesday.
Kanawati Stephany said local food banks like theirs wouldn't be able to step into the gap SNAP cuts could leave. He said that aside from the cuts the U.S. Department of Agriculture made to two food assistance programs earlier this year, they simply don't have the capacity to meet that level of need.
North Carolina's seven Feeding the Carolinas food banks distributed 250 million meals over the past year. But for every one they provided, Kanawati Stephany said, SNAP provides nine.
"We're in a situation where, you know, we have 70,000 volunteers a year who come through our doors," he said. "We have as many grassroots donors throughout the central and eastern portions of the state, and even that support cannot make up for the cut that we're talking about here."
These cuts could also impact local grocers and farmers, if people benefiting from SNAP no longer have those dollars to spend.
"We have heard from so many grocers that we partner with, so many farms that we partner with, that if these cuts go through, they will be forced to cut jobs, they will be forced to scale back, and many of them will be forced to close," Kanawati Stephany said. "Those cuts are going to be felt disproportionately in rural communities, where we are going to see even less food available at the grocery store, even fewer good paying jobs in the community, even less support for local farms."
Eric Aft, Board Chair of Feeding the Carolinas and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, echoed the possibility of these effects.
“We need our Senators and Representatives to understand that these historic cuts will not make SNAP more efficient or put families back to work—they will push more families into crisis while shifting new costs to local grocers and taxpayers,” he said in a statement on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Trump-backed megabill that passed the Senate Tuesday is now back to the House with changes. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said he hopes to see it passed by Friday, July 4.
