On Thursday, July 3rd, the House of Representatives passed the reconciliation bill with a 218-214 vote. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law tomorrow, July 4th. Empower Missouri condemns the passage of this bill, which will threaten healthcare coverage and food assistance for thousands of Missourians, all while providing huge tax cuts for corporations and people earning $500,000 or more each year.
Among other provisions, the bill:
- Shifts an additional 25% of the administrative costs, and 5-25% of the cost of SNAP benefits to state budgets. In Missouri, this amounts to up to an additional $400 million per year that now must be covered by the state.
- Expands work requirements and time limits for SNAP and Medicaid recipients. Decades of evidence have shown that work requirements do not increase employment or earnings, and only serves to cut off assistance to people struggling to meet their basic needs. In Missouri, over 100,000 people will be at risk of losing some amount of SNAP benefits due to the expansion of work requirements, and 170,000 Missourians are at risk of losing Medicaid.
- Cuts $5.4 billion in funding for rural healthcare providers in Missouri, according to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, leading to the likely closer of already limited healthcare providers in those areas.
- Eliminates the SNAP Nutrition Education Program, which connects SNAP families to nutrition education and resources.
- Bars legally present refugees and other immigrants from receiving SNAP, including 10,000 refugees residing in Missouri.
This bill, passed despite massive outcry from individuals and organizations working to support the most vulnerable in our communities, will increase hunger, health risks, and poverty in Missouri and across the country. We are deeply saddened to see these cuts moving forward, and will continue to work with our partners in Missouri to fight for policies that will help the thousands of Missourians harmed by these changes.
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