MANKATO — As the Trump administration’s mega policy package moves forward in Congress, the shockwaves the bill could have in our area are still being measured. One program that is expected to see major changes should the bill be signed into law is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The 2024 fiscal year was the first year in which SNAP enrollment decreased in Minnesota, going from just over 466,000 in 2023 to just over 450,000 in 2024, according to the Department of Human Services and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Still, that 450,000 number represents about 8% of Minnesota’s total population.
One of the biggest changes is that the bill restricts a work requirement exemption from adults with children younger than age 18 to adults with children younger than 7. That means an estimated 190,000 or more participants could lose access to their SNAP benefits in Minnesota alone. And that loss will be felt by one area in particular: food shelves.
“(Food shelves) are pretty important because there are a lot of people with needs that aren’t being met through federal programs,” said Kay Guttschalk, the director of the local food shelf in Janesville.
Deisy De Leon Esqueda, manager at ECHO Food Shelf in Mankato, predicts those cuts will take a toll on food shelves across the state, especially in Mankato.
“Whenever cuts are made to programs, our numbers increase. It’s always a given. For us to know that there’s going to be SNAP cuts, we know it’s going to have an effect.”
Most food shelves get their food from organizations called food banks, Janesville gets theirs from Channel One and ECHO gets theirs from Second Harvest, and the megabill does extend funds to those banks through 2031; however it does not increase the amount of funding they could receive to match the increased need food shelves across the state are seeing and could see more of.
Esqueda said funding cuts already have struck regional food banks. In Minnesota, 34 truckloads of food were scheduled to be shipped to area food banks before being canceled and pulled back due to funding cuts.
The strain of that greater demand can sometimes be felt most prominently at rural food shelves, especially when a nearby food shelf goes down.
“Back in 2013, when Waseca’s food shelf closed for a week to move, we saw a number that was about double what our demand was,” Guttschalk said. “We had a slight drop-off during COVID but now those numbers are back on the rise and increasing yearly.”
Janesville’s food shelf is only open 1-3 p.m. Thursdays, and Guttschalk said that on busy weeks they can serve upward of 20 people in that timespan. Right now, she said the food shelf isn’t too worried about meeting the increased demand, but that could change if community members start to lose their SNAP benefits.
“Right now we’re doing OK,” Guttschalk said. “If SNAP benefits are being cut, then people need to get their food somewhere, and we’ll become more of a resource to people who can’t get their SNAP money to pay for food.”
And while Janesville isn’t too concerned about the future, but for the ECHO Food Shelf, which serves an average of 2,500 people a week, the situation could soon turn dire, Esqueda said.
“We’re going to find ourselves in a difficult situation, because some of our funding will also be affected, and we’re already seeing those cuts,” she said. “At the moment, even though our donations have increased, it’s not keeping up with demand. The fact that our numbers are going to increase is a dire situation. … For us, we know that it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when.”
Some other changes the proposed megabill would have on the SNAP program is making the age exemption for work requirements age 65 instead of the current 55, eliminate exemptions based on insufficient jobs in a particular area, sunset exemptions for homeless people, veterans and foster care individuals on Oct. 1, 2030, and eliminate funding for the SNAP-ED program, which provides education and information to people on healthy shopping and nutrition habits.
The bill also would change state exemption standards. Currently, states are allowed to exempt up to 8% of recipients from these requirements; under the new bill, that number is set to 1%. It also eliminates a provision allowing for a $56 tolerance in state error for overpayment calculations.
All of this could see a bigger financial burden, especially on larger families, as inflation continues a major upswing. According to data from the Consumer Price Index, from 200-2005 inflation rose by more than 3% year over year just once. From 2020 until 2024, it’s happened four times. Guttschalk said in Janesville they’ll do what they can to prepare for greater demand.
“There are concerns somewhere down the road, but right now we’re all right. We’re pretty responsible, fiscally,” she said. “We try not to cut back on the amount of food we give out just because our numbers are increasing, and the community’s been really supportive.”
For those hoping to help their local food shelves, Esqueda said there are three main ways: Donate money, get involved with the organization and call or write your state representative.
“Let them know what’s going on and how it’s affecting the community we’re living in,” she said.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, the House had yet to pass the megabill; threatening the president’s preferred deadline of July 4. With the House not in session the rest of the week, and a sizable group of conservative representatives still holding out, that deadline may pass without the signing of the policy package.
However, that would not kill the bill itself. For that to happen, the House would need to vote down the proposed Senate version. That would take four conservative House members to vote no, assuming all Democrats vote no and all House members are present.