Whitmer: Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ could cost Michigan $900 million a year for food stamps

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• Proposed cuts to federal food assistance could cost Michigan nearly $900 million annually.
• The proposed changes shift more financial burden onto states, potentially impacting other state programs.
• Republicans argue that the cuts will only affect those who shouldn’t be receiving benefits.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office released a report indicating Republican-led efforts in Congress to cut federal spending on food assistance by shifting some of the burden onto the states could cost Michigan taxpayers nearly $900 million a year or require reductions in that program or others to make up for that amount.

Whitmer, who has continued to criticize congressional efforts in the same bill to reduce federal spending on Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income and disabled individuals and families, said those cuts and those proposed for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could upend programs that provide benefits to millions of Michigan families.

“In Michigan, we will fight to make sure our kids and families are fed, but we need Republicans in our congressional delegation to step up for their own constituents who need SNAP and Medicaid to survive,” Whitmer said in a statement made public June 4th. “If these cuts are signed into law, more Michiganders will go to bed with a pit in their stomach. That’s unacceptable.”

With her statement, Whitmer released a report on how the SNAP reductions could hit Michigan government from the State Budget Office, which said “The magnitude of the proposed cost shifts would place a significant burden on Michigan’s budget, and it is unlikely that the state could backfill these federal cuts without severely impacting other programs including education, public safety and Medicaid.”

Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who has urged the Senate to quickly pass what he has called his “big, beautiful bill” to extend and increase tax cuts by slashing spending, claim Democrats, including Whitmer, are exaggerating the societal effects of the plan, saying only people who shouldn’t be receiving benefits may lose them.

The sweeping legislation passed by the U.S. House on May 22 by a single-vote margin and now being considered by the U.S. Senate includes several changes that would impact Michigan residents, including those to tighten Medicaid eligibility and change the rules regarding SNAP, which provides food assistance benefits to nearly 1.48 million state residents.

Among the changes approved by the House to SNAP were those expanding the population of adults who must meet work or training requirements to remain on the program from age 55 to 64 and those who aren’t caregivers for children under the age of 7. It would also limit the ability of states to provide waivers from work requirements other than those in areas of extremely high unemployment.

Also, rather than the federal government continuing to reimburse states for the full cost of SNAP benefits and half of the administrative costs, states under the legislation would have to pick up at least 5% of the benefit costs and reduce the federal match on administrative costs from 50% to 25%. The state share of the benefit costs would also increase depending on its error rates in payments, rising as high as 25%.

Michigan’s error rate − which includes overpayments and underpayments and can include benefit amounts pay due administrative errors, improperly filed paperwork or fraud − in fiscal year 2023 was over 10% according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In the report, the State Budget Office said the proposed changes could force the state, which saw the federal government cover $3.2 billion in SNAP costs in Michigan last year, to pay up to $800 million a year to cover benefits and $90 million a year on administrative costs.

Republicans who hold the majority in the Senate are expected to make some changes to the legislation, but it is not known whether the SNAP spending cuts will be reconsidered. Senate leaders are trying to pass the legislation before July 4.

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on X @tsspangler.