Millions of low-income American families are set to lose critical food assistance under a new law signed recently by President Donald Trump, as wealthy individuals and major corporations receive fresh tax breaks.
The sweeping policy overhaul, part of what Republicans dubbed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is facing backlash for what critics say are cruel tradeoffs.
Small-Town Grocers And Families Brace For Impact
The cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are projected to affect 22.3 million households, with an average loss of $146 per month in benefits, according to research by the Urban Institute. The law also imposes stricter work requirements and new eligibility rules that could disqualify many people, including veterans, older adults and working parents—if they fail to meet documentation or hour thresholds.
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“The richest Americans who are doing phenomenally well? Rewarded with tax breaks,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote on X recently. “The largest corporations enjoying record-breaking profits? Tax breaks. American families in need? Trump and Congressional Republicans cut nutrition support to 22.3 million of them. Disgusting.”
Critics argue that the policy disproportionately hurts low-income communities, especially in rural areas that often supported Trump in the last presidential election. In many small towns, SNAP recipients make up the majority of customers for independent grocery stores, which now fear closure or layoffs.
“I lean pretty heavily right most of the time,” Spence Udall, the mayor of conservative St. Johns, Arizona, which has just one grocery store, told Politico. “But one of the things that I do lean to the left on is we're a pretty wealthy country, we can help people out.”
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Grocers like RF Buche, who operates the only store on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, say the impact could be devastating. “I’d just as soon cut a leg off than have my customers out in the poorest county of the United States go without food,” Buche told Politico. He estimates that 60% to 80% of his shoppers rely on SNAP, which makes up nearly half his revenue.
A study by the Commonwealth Fund warns that the SNAP cuts will trigger thousands of job losses across agriculture, grocery retail and food processing sectors. That ripple effect could be especially harsh in rural areas, where small stores double as community hubs and economic anchors.
As the legislation rolls out, grocery store owners, food bank operators, and families across the U.S. are bracing for a sharp decline in food access. As Sanders put it: “This bill wipes out nutrition assistance for millions of hungry kids at a time when we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of nearly any major nation on earth.”
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