Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown speaks on U.S. House Floor against Trump's "big beautiful bill," GOP cuts to SNAP, food stamps...Calls the GOP's "big beautiful bill" an unfunded mandate on states that imperils benefits
Staff article
Washington, DC – Ohio Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11), a Warrensville Hts. Democrat who represents Ohio's 11th congressional district, and one of three Black women in Congress from Ohio, spoke in opposition to the Republican Reconciliation Bill on the U.S. House of Representatives floor Wednesday, calling attention to the bill's cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (food stamps).
The Senate-passed Reconciliation Bill ( The One, Big Beautiful Bill Act) includes a $186 billion federal funding cut to SNAP, the largest cut in the program's history. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that some five million Americans will lose SNAP benefits if the president's "big beautiful bill" becomes law, a disproportionate number of them Black and low-income single mothers. Congressional Democrats oppose the bill in unison, calling it a "big ugly bill" that targets America's most vulnerable across the board and increases the nation's deficit. Following Senate approval, the bill awaits final passage in the House.
Rep. Brown stated the following:
"This policy punishes those who can least afford it, seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, and families already forced to choose between gas and groceries."
The Republican budget bill would require, for the first time, that states, including Ohio, pay for a portion of SNAP benefits and cover an increased share of program administration costs. Under current law, the federal government and states split program administration costs 50/50. The bill would make this a 25/75 split between federal and state governments.
On these new costs for states, Brown stated, "States will be stuck in a corner [and forced to] cut benefits. cut eligibility, or cut public safety, education, housing, and mental health programs just to stay afloat."
A number of states further split the state administration costs between the state and the county, meaning this will also create new funding burdens on Cuyahoga County, which includes the majority Black city of Cleveland.
The Governor of Pennsylvania has said that his state may not be able to administer SNAP at all, given these increased costs. For a full explainer on the bill's SNAP cuts, click here.
Read Congresswoman Brown's Remarks as Delivered (VIDEO) on the House floor below:
Thank you Ranking Member McGovern for yielding.
I rise in strong opposition to this Rule and the underlying bill.
For the first time in history, this bill would force states to pay for part of SNAP benefits. And it would require states to increase their share of administrative costs.
This is an unfunded mandate—plain and simple.
And let's be clear: the costs are staggering.
The consequences? Devastating. And the cruelty? Deeply
disturbing.
This policy punishes those who can least afford it: seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, and families already forced to choose between gas and groceries.
States will be stuck in a corner.
Cut benefits. Cut eligibility. Or cut public safety, education, housing, and mental health programs just to stay afloat.
This isn't just a budgeting decision. It's a values decision.
And for what?
To take from the hungry... and give it to the wealthy.
To slash SNAP benefits—just $6 per day – and hand a quarter-million-dollar tax break to the top 0.1%. 0.1%
That's not policy. That's plunder.
The math doesn't lie.
In North Carolina, its $400 million. More than the entire state budget for child development and early education.
In Georgia – its $500 million. DOUBLE what the state spends on
child welfare.
And in my state of Ohio, its $300 million. Four times the transportation budget.
My colleagues are writing checks that their Governors can't cash.
And when the money runs out? The food runs out.
Children go hungry. Seniors skip meals. Veterans, working mothers, and fathers will be turned down and turned away.
All because of a vote taken here today.
This mandate isn't just unfunded – it's unfathomable.
So, I urge my colleagues: Reject this provision. Reject this rule.
Reject this betrayal.
Don't reward the rich on the backs of hungry Americans.
Thank you, I yield back.
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