MENOMONIE, Wis. (WEAU) – President Donald Trump’s legislation, which he called his “big beautiful bill,” just needs to pass the U.S. Senate before it makes it on to his desk. What is in though is concerning Wisconsin non-profits already working with less resources than before.
“We’re intended to be a supplemental services, as is SNAP,” said Angie Wolf, the food pantry manager for Stepping Stones of Dunn County.
It was pick up day for families and clients of the food pantry Wednesday. President Trump’s bill could come with cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP for short. The food pantry serves thousands of people per year.
“I completely reject the premise of your question. You started off talking about SNAP benefit cuts. That’s not happening,” said Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden. He voted for the bill and maintained any who needed it will get their food stamps.
“When people ran out of their COVID relief funds, we noticed immediately noticed and increase in demand for the pantry. We had 151 new families sign up the following month,” said Wolf. “Luckily we had some foresight to adjust our budget and our spending.”
Handling a spike in demand will become harder this time around.
“We as an organization are facing cuts,” said Wolf. Stepping Stones has lost thousands of dollars in federal grant money with recent cuts to programs, including Americorp.
Rep. Van Orden said he voted for the bill because it comes with more restrictions to prevent fraud.
“It is absolutely not too much to ask someone who is receiving benefits from the federal government, an able bodied adult with no dependents, to work at least 20 hours a week,” said Van Orden. “States will be required to communicate with other states to find out if people are registered and receieving SNAP benefits from other states.”
“The vast majority of people who use SNAP and the food pantry are employed,” said Wolf.
For now, Stepping Stones will prepare for what could come if the bill gets signed into law.
“We do have a contingency plans. We do have things in order. But, nobody here wants to start that,” said Wolf.
Republicans will continue to forge ahead.
“That’s what this bill is about, certainty and security,” said Rep. Van Orden.
U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, has said he is not voting for the bill unless more cuts to spending are made to address the deficit. Congressman Van Orden said he is working with Sen. Johnson to come to some agreement on what changes the Senate could make to the bill.
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