HOUSE BUDGET GUTS SNAP, OTHER SAFETY NET PROGRAMS

The House Republican budget unveiled this week that, in addition to repealing Obamacare, seeks to balance federal spending over 10 years by cutting assistance to the poor while boosting defense spending. It reprises many of the safety net cuts House Speaker Paul Ryan proposed in previous years. This budget would cut SNAP and Medicaid in two ways. As Ryan proposed in previous years’ budgets, Tuesday’s proposal would turn funding for SNAP and Medicaid into “block grants.” It would also significantly cut SNAP and Medicaid budgets. Though the budget summary doesn’t specify exactly how much it would cut SNAP, it calls for $1 trillion less in mandatory spending outside of health and retirement programs — a category in which SNAP is the largest program — over the next 10 years. Ryan’s budget last year called for cutting over $137 billion from SNAP, or 18%.

Source:  Huffington Post, 3/17/16, Budget Proposal