Proposed changes to SNAP funding structure could hurt Kentuckians
As federal funding cuts for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program loom, Kentucky experts said proposed changes to shift funding onto states could be disastrous.
In a recent letter to Congress, the Kentucky Food Action Network told lawmakers restricting SNAP will hurt farmers across the Commonwealth.
Jessica Klein, policy associate at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, said taking on just 10% of the SNAP budget would cost Kentucky $127 million in state funds. She noted every $1 from SNAP generates nearly $2 in local economic activity.
“People are able to get grocery money, and then they spend that very quickly at a grocery store or a farmers market in their community,” Klein explained. “That money goes directly to the retailers.”
SNAP helps one in eight Kentuckians put food on the table, and 40% of the state’s participants are children who receive breakfast and lunch at school and meals during the summer through SNAP-related programs. According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, since the program’s inception, SNAP has been fully funded by the federal government, with nearly all the money going toward food purchases.
Klein added extra money in the pockets of families can help ensure households can purchase protein.
“Our communities have seen a lot of natural disasters and impacts to their local economies,” Klein pointed out. “It is a difficult time to afford groceries and SNAP only provides an average of $6 a day. For some families, that makes a huge difference.”
She argued the program is critical for preventing a worsening of the nation’s food insecurity crisis, in light of rising inflation.
“There has been a lot of criticism lately of how people are spending their SNAP dollars,” Klein observed. “What we know is that people that participate in SNAP and those that don’t really spend their money very similarly. “
Critics of SNAP said the program is bloated and is used to support major corporations. According to the right-leaning CATO Institute, federal spending on SNAP jumped from $63 billion in 2019 to $145 million in 2023; and its research indicated almost one-quarter of purchases by SNAP households are for junk food.
In Kentucky, House Bill 279, introduced by lawmakers earlier this year, would ban SNAP purchases of junk food.
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