What do Louisiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Alabama have in common? For one thing, they’re red states. For another, they’re poor states. Each has among the top 10 highest percentages of residents on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.

And finally, every one of their Republican lawmakers voted for U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”—which will result in the largest cut to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history, at $186 billion through 2034.

The bill doesn’t just cut federal SNAP spending. It also, for the first time, shifts much of that burden to the states. So state governments will need to raise taxes, cut spending, or further slash benefits to meet these added expenses. Others may eliminate their SNAP rolls entirely.

SNAP offers taxpayers a tremendous return on investment. “One study estimates that every SNAP dollar invested in children returns $62 in value over the long term,” the Center on Policy and Budget Priorities reports.

Whether we live in red states or blue states, all of us need to speak out against this cruelty.

So GOP lawmakers aren’t making these cuts because we can’t afford SNAP. They’re doing it to offset some of their deficit-busting tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. Taking food from kids to give billionaires a tax break? Talk about Robin Hood in reverse.

In an open letter to congressional leaders, 23 state governors—including the leaders of historically red states like North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky—call these SNAP cuts “unrealistic” and warn they will “result in too many Americans forced to survive rather than thrive.”

Red states will be among the hardest hit, but it’s a truly national problem. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 13.5% of U.S households were “food insecure,” meaning they have a “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods.” SNAP benefits currently serve more than 40 million Americans, almost half of them children.

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