PADUCAH — The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s new cost-of-living adjustments began at the beginning of October. Advocates say the change isn’t enough to address the ongoing need for food in Kentucky communities.
William Brandon at PCM said the organization has had some of the busiest weeks recently as the need for food continues.
Zoe Lewis
The United States Department of Agriculture rolled out the changes for this fiscal year, providing a nearly 3% increase to the maximum monthly amount a SNAP participant could receive. For example, a single-person household could receive up to $306 a month, which is an $8 difference from the previous year.
“While we’re appreciative of a cost-of-living adjustment, ultimately, we think that there’s more that could be done,” Jordan Ojile, the advocacy manager at Feeding Kentucky, said.
William Brandon, the community engagement coordinator at Paducah Cooperative Ministry, explains that not every SNAP participant will receive that much money, though.
“What people may not understand about that is those cost-of-living things happen to the max amount that you’re able to get. For a single-family household, you’re from about $298 to $306. That’s not a ton of money at all, but those are also the max amounts. There are tons of people who don’t end up getting the max amount of their food stamps,” Brandon said.
PCM sees firsthand how hunger impacts McCracken County, and Brandon said there’s a constant need for people needing food.
“We just see a lot of people that are trying to find any new way to make ends meet or have food on the table, either themselves, their children [or] even their animals. It’s tough these days,” Brandon said. “We see people struggling.”
The new COLAs come more than a year after President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut $186 billion in federal funding from the SNAP program, restructured eligibility and work requirements and changed state cost-sharing for administrative costs. Gov. Andy Beshear said in a letter that more than 80,000 Kentuckians — 20,000 of whom are children — lost SNAP benefits after the OBBB passed.
“While this cost-of-living adjustment is going to be useful for Kentuckians, there are far too many people who are receiving less than they would have a year ago,” Ojile said. “There are certainly a lot more people losing their benefits since all these changes have been enacted.”
Ojile said one of their concerns is the large number of children who no longer have SNAP, and how that could affect them in their daily and future lives.
“When you see tens of thousands of children losing their SNAP benefits, that jeopardizes districts all across the state and their ability to provide meals for students at no cost. Why that concerns us particularly is you’ve got kids who are losing meals at home because their SNAP benefits are being taken away. You’ve also got the jeopardy of them losing their meals at school too,” Ojile said.
Brandon said they have seen more people coming to the food pantry after the cuts and new eligibility work requirements.
“People have to work. I think that’s a common misconception about people on SNAP is that there are no free rides. That ride is not luxurious, and people are having to work just to get benefits…They’ve taken away exemptions for certain people that may have more difficulties doing those things, so we’ll see lots of people that — one different safety net start to get holes in them, that net is not very useful anymore,” Brandon said.
Ojile said to fix these issues, the congressional delegation needs to extend the cost shift for SNAP and pass an anti-hunger Farm Bill.
“States need more time in order to implement all of the requirements from H.R. 1. [They] need time to bring down the error rates because far too many of my colleagues across America right now are echoing the same complaint that there’s just not enough time to bring down that error rate,” Ojile said. “I think it’s time for a Farm Bill to address hunger in a very meaningful way. Our food banks need to see more funding for procurement and purchasing. But what’s more than that? We’d love to see some really strong language setting up some strong support for SNAP, making good on a lot of the gaps created by H.R. 1 and giving folks that need assistance more of a hand up rather than a handout.”
Gov. Andy Beshear sent a letter this week to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Kentucky’s congressional delegation — including Reps. James Comer and Andy Barr, and Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul — asking for a call to action to alleviate the current situation of SNAP.
WPSD reached out to the legislators above to respond to Beshear’s letter. Barr’s press team responded with the following statement: “It’s no surprise that someone who backed Biden’s open borders is complaining that we kicked illegals off SNAP benefits and put Kentuckians first. SNAP should go to struggling Americans, not illegals, and able-bodied adults without kids should work, train, or volunteer for benefits. Andy Barr and Republicans preserved food assistance for the disabled, the elderly, and Kentuckians in need.”
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