San José, CA – On Friday, July 4, President Trump signed his “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to health insurance and food stamps for the poor, and more attacks on immigrants.

The tax cuts are so large that, despite historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps), the federal government will be borrowing more than $300 billion more each year for the next ten years.

The new law cuts taxes about $450 billion a year over the next ten years, mainly benefiting higher income households. Using adjusted gross income, we can see the richer a household, the more money Trump and the Republicans’ new law gives to them.

Those in the top 20% of income, over $120,390 per year, get a $5753 tax break. The ones in the top 1%, over $649,005 per year, get a $29,585 tax break. And those in the top 0.1% highest income, over $3.3 million, get over a $100,000 tax break.

On the other hand, low-income households will actually pay more taxes and receive fewer and lower benefits from the federal government. The new law takes from the poor and gives to the rich, Robin Hood in reverse.

Those in the lowest 20% of income, under $13,350, will lose $695 by paying taxes and/or losing SNAP and Medicaid benefits. The next lowest 20%, those from $13,350 to $36,475, will pay $125 more in taxes and/or get less in government benefits.

The biggest cut to government funded health care is a $85 billion a year cut to Medicaid under the Trump/Republican Party law. More than 10 million Americans will lose their health insurance because of these cuts, and millions more will have to pay more for their health care.

Many rural hospitals that rely on Medicaid payments for their patients will fold up shop, creating more “health care deserts,” where patients have to travel an hour or more for hospital care. More than 25 million people in the United States do not have any health insurance and the cuts will make the situation even worse.

$30 billion a year will be cut from SNAP, and there are more cuts to programs supporting local food banks. Similarly, more than 40 million Americans are considered “food insecure,” meaning that they are not sure of feeding their household throughout the month, and the cuts to SNAP and aid to food banks will force more to go hungry and/or rely on unhealthy foods.

The new law also hits hard with almost $170 billion more funding to ICE and Border Patrol, meaning that they can expand their raids and terrorization of Chicano and Latino communities and workplaces in particular. At the same time, the new law limits families of immigrants, including U.S.-born citizen children, from accessing government-funded health insurance and higher education. It also makes immigrants pay more to apply for court proceedings and to send remittances home to their families.

Last but not least, the new law will require hundreds of billions of dollars more borrowing each year. The federal government budget deficit is already at $1.9 trillion this year, the largest ever outside of times of war or economic crisis. The law could lead to the deficit growing to more than $3.2 trillion a year, even assuming that there is no recession or major war for the next ten years. This will lead to higher interest rates, which will tend to slow down economic growth in the longer term.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Trump #BigBeautifulBill #ImmigrantRights #HealthInsurance #FoodStamps #SNAP #Medicaid #Feature

The cuts in food stamps benefits are part of the larger package of cuts to programs that were started during the COVID pandemic in 2020. Those programs – including expanded unemployment benefits to include the self-employed and gig workers, expanding those who qualify for Medicaid (health insurance for low income individuals and households), and expanded child tax credits – have all be cut or will be in the months ahead.

Total spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps, will fall by more than $15 billion this fiscal year, which runs from October 2022 to September 2023. At the same time, military spending, including military aid to Ukraine, will rise by $120 billion, or eight times as much, this fiscal year.

Food costs are up by more than 10% as compared to a year ago, straining working people’s budgets. Most economists expect a recession this year, which would slash the incomes of working people. About 40 million people in the United States are what the federal Government calls “food insecure,” and these cuts will just make the problem worse, especially for children and seniors.

While private charities cannot make up for cuts in SNAP food stamp benefits, this cut comes at a time where private charities are also under stress. The Second Harvest Food Bank that serves San José and distributes free food in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties saw the number of people it served double in 2020 with the pandemic. But even though the pandemic illnesses and unemployment have both come down, the rising cost of rent, gasoline, food, and well, just about everything, has made it harder to keep food on the table. The local food bank is still serving 80% more than in 2019 before the pandemic and will be challenged to help the growing number of people in need.

The United States is the world’s largest exporter of food. The U.S. exports more than twice as much food as the next two largest food exporting countries combined. Yet we cannot manage to feed our own people, while spending more and more on the military and war.

#SanJoséCA #lowincomeFamilies #foodStamps

East Orange, NJ – The People’s Organization for Progress (POP) held a protest here, Dec. 18 against the recently concluded ‘budget deal’ that will end unemployment benefits to 1.3 million people at the end of this month and to many more in months after.

A common theme of speakers was the way Wall Street continues to rake in huge profits even while millions of people suffer and go hungry. The role of the Democrats in supporting the cuts was condemned.

The budget deal is supposedly a victory for the Democrats, since even passing something as routine as a funding bill has become a big deal in Congress. But the workers are still the losers.

15 people turned up at short notice. Organized labor was represented, as was Veterans for Peace, the Coalition to Save Our Homes, the Irvington NAACP, the Popcorn Kids and the POP youth auxiliary. The multinational gathering signified the broad people’s unity that is the real strength of the people’s struggle for economic justice.

After the protest, several people left to go to the offices on Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Representative Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NKJ) to demand that the cuts be restored.

#EastOrangeNJ #foodStamps #ExtendedUnemploymentBenefits #NewJersey

Minneapolis, MN – Members of the Twin Cities-based Welfare Rights Committee held signs and banners during rush-hour, Nov. 12, in front of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office, telling her to undo the November Food Stamp/SNAP cuts, and to stop further cuts to Food Stamps.

Senator Klobuchar sits on the Agriculture conference committee in Washington D.C. that will decide the fate of the Food Stamp (now known as SNAP) program. Both houses of Congress are proposing cuts to this basic survival program. Now, people across the country are reeling from November’s across the board cuts to Food Stamps (the result of an expiration of a part of the federal stimulus program).

According to the Welfare Rights Committee’s Loretta VanPelt, “It seems that when budgets need to be ‘balanced’ it is balanced on the backs of the poor and working class, and we are the ones who have to pay the price for these budgets. We ask that Senator Klobuchar, as a member of the Ag Committee, to use her influence to undo all cuts to food stamps.”

#MinneapolisMN #PoorPeoplesMovements #SenatorAmyKlobuchar #lowincomeFamilies #foodStamps #SNAP