IT's not a snap for michigan
- Social Safety Net Team
- 39 minutes ago
- 4 min read
How This Benefit, or Lack There Of, Has Affected Our Community
“It’s such an old-fashioned term but a beautiful term…groceries.
It sort of says a bag with different things in it.”
- The President of the United States,
who knows absolutely nothing about
the price of groceries.
What is SNAP?
And what has the president done to ease the cost of groceries for the average consumer? Well, nothing. But his administration sure has made it more difficult for people who are struggling financially to buy groceries and feed their families. One example of this is the administration’s attacks on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP, once known as food stamps, was created in 1938 at the height of the Great Depression. At that time, farmers in the United States were growing a surplus of food that was not making it into the hands and bellies of the American people. Or, as the program’s first administrator put it: “We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm.”
The program, as it existed at that time, allowed Americans to purchase a book of orange coupons to be spent on groceries, along with a book of blue coupons, that were used exclusively to buy surplus food products. The program ultimately shuttered in 1943 as the country fought in WWII, but not before reducing the hunger of approximately 20 million Americans by finding a use for surplus food supplies.
The food stamp program (renamed SNAP in 2008) returned on a permanent basis in 1964 as a pillar of the War on Poverty. In 2024, the program served approximately 41 million Americans, nearly 1.5 million of which live in the State of Michigan, including 500,000 children. The average benefit in 2024 was $335.03 per month per household. Since 2009, Michigan residents receiving SNAP benefits have also had access to the Double Up Food Bucks program, which matches contributions dollar-for-dollar for fruits and vegetables at participating retailers and farmer’s markets. Overall, it is estimated that every dollar spent on the SNAP program generates $1.50 - $1.80 in economic activity.
SNAP as Political Football
On July 4, 2025, the President signed Public Law 119-25, the so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill, into effect. Among the atrocities in the bill, which was certainly big but not at all beautiful, is a significant reduction to SNAP benefits. As a result of the law, funding for the program will be reduced by $186 billion over ten years, a 20% cut to the program.
In fiscal year 2024, it took a total of $382.7 million in administrative costs to run the SNAP program in Michigan. Historically, the federal government has shared SNAP administrative costs of getting those benefits to recipients with states, splitting the administrative costs 50/50 with the government. That is all about to change this fall unless Michigan’s Legislature passes Whitmer’s proposed 2027 Fiscal Year Budget. Starting in October 2026, changes authorized under the billionaire bailout bill will increase state administrative costs from a 50% split to a 75%-25% split. That’s an increase of $95 million for Michigan!
Fortunately, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has included an estimated $95 million expense to fully cover staffing and training, technology, fraud control, and other operational costs previously split with the federal government in the budget recommendations she delivered to lawmakers on Feb. 11. Without this allocation of an additional $95 million in the 2026 Michigan State budget, benefits will be cut in October of this year. If cuts happen, there most likely won’t be enough in all the food pantries in the State to fill the hunger gap for 1.4 million people or 14% of the population of Michigan.
Besides increasing states’ administrative costs, the new law also adds more onerous work requirements to the SNAP program. As of December 1, 2025, adults aged 18-64 who do not live with children under 14 have to meet work requirements to keep SNAP benefits. Fifty-one percent of those households have a person with a disability, and 78% of them have someone earning income already. Exceptions in Michigan apparently will be determined on a case-by-case basis by a call to MDHHS. These changes will cause millions of recipients across the country, including Michiganders, to lose these vital benefits.
What You Can Do
Be proactive – voice your concerns to your State Representative and State Senator – NOW! – Call, send an email, or write letters! Tell them to support Governor Whitmer’s budget, especially the funding for SNAP benefit administration.
Find your State legislators here
References
Federal food assistance changes taking $95 M bite out of Michigan budget - Bridge Michigan, Feb 2, 2026
State Representative Julie A. Rogers (Kalamazoo) “Alert!!! Work Requirements for SNAP Benefits” on her Facebook page – Nov 25, 2025
Following federal court order for USDA, MDHHS directs SNAP vendor to issue full payments to Michiganders, Nov 6, 2025
Gov. Whitmer’s FY27 Budget Delivers on Promises to Improve Literacy, Save Michiganders Money, Protect Medicaid, and Fix Roads February 11, 2026
Written in cooperation by members of Indy Next Gen and Indivisible Greater Grand Rapids.