Republicans About to Kick 2 Million Low Income and Disabled Americans Off Food Stamps

House Republicans have passed a bill that is projected to kick 2 million Americans off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Among those expected to lose these critical, life-saving benefits are nearly half a million homes with young children, about 677,000 seniors, and over 200,000 households with people living with a disability.

In addition to those groups, and additional 1.2 million Americans would also lose benefits under a provision requiring them to work in order to be eligible to continue receiving SNAP benefits.

A Senate version of the Farm Bill that would strip benefits from 2 million people does not include a work requirement. President Trump favors the House version, The New York Times reports, adding that the President “has disparagingly described beneficiaries as ‘welfare’ recipients.”

In the House bill the president supports, one “rule change alone would reduce the number of enrolled families by 10 percent.”

House and Senate conference committees are working to merge both bills into a version the president will sign.

Last year 15 million households in America were rated as “food insecure,” meaning they do not have the resources to have consistent access to food.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reports that two-thirds of those who rely on food stamps “are children, older adults, and people with disabilities.”

Meanwhile, President Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy will cost taxpayers $2.3 billion.