Why SNAP is good for the local economy

This letter to the editor, by Nancy Vezner, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on August 24, 2024.

In 1964, as part of a series of progressive reforms, President Johnson signed a food security law that we know today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

SNAP provides benefits to low-income households to supplement their grocery budgets so they can afford nutritious food. Thirteen percent of Wisconsin’s residents now are enrolled in the program, and 86 percent of the food benefits go to households that include a child, disabled, or elderly person.

SNAP is good for our local economies, as well as for our hungry neighbors. Every dollar invested in SNAP food benefits produces at least $1.50 in economic benefits. 

But the authors of Project 2025, which include 140 former members of the Trump administration, considered expanding SNAP benefits during Covid “a dramatic overreach”.  And now they want to take away food benefits through work requirements that will not reduce unemployment, but just are a backdoor way to push vulnerable Wisconsinites out of the SNAP program.

Voters should wonder why the far-right authors of Project 2025 want to end the economic benefits of SNAP while also harming Americans who legitimately need SNAP food benefits to help them survive.

This November, reject Project 2025 and the candidates who would implement it.

Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education, and regulatory engagement has an easy to read guide of the highlights (LOWlights) of Project 2025. CLICK HERE to visit their site.