PROVIDENCE, RI – As families prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, U.S. Senator Jack Reed is concerned a growing number of Americans may not have enough to eat. The problem is compounded by President Trump slashing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), America’s most effective anti-hunger program, by roughly 20 percent and adding new red tape to the program that could cause many people who qualify for nutrition assistance to go without.

Today, Reed visited one of Rhode Island’s largest and busiest food pantries – Federal Hill House’s (FHH) Swiss Street Food Pantry – to highlight the urgent need to deliver nutrition assistance and rally support for new legislation to overturn Trump-Republican cuts to SNAP, the biggest cut to the food aid program in American history.

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SNAP is a lifeline for over 42 million Americans, including 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million people with disabilities, and 1.2 million veterans – including 144,000 Rhode Islanders.

As President Trump’s economic policies contribute to rising prices, more Rhode Islanders are being squeezed when it comes to essentials such as food, health care, heating, housing, and transportation. That has led to increased demand at food pantries across the state and the nation.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates President Trump’s budget and tax law will eliminate $187 billion in food assistance over the next decade, even as grocery prices rise. Trump’s cuts will cause as many as 88,000 Rhode Islanders to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute. In total, Rhode Island would lose $85.8 million in SNAP funds every year under the new Trump budget law.

The state currently receives roughly $343.5 million annually in SNAP benefits. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, SNAP participants in Rhode Island received an average of $198.52 per month in SNAP benefits which nets out as about $6.52 per person per day.

“We are so grateful to food pantries like Federal Hill House. And it’s important to note that community food banks across the country are experiencing the same high prices, federal cuts, and surge of demand that was exacerbated by President Trump needlessly withholding SNAP funds. Our foodbanks and volunteers are doing heroic work, but they can only do so much, and President Trump’s SNAP cuts are dragging the country in the wrong direction. The federal government needs to do more, not less. The Trump Administration is forcing higher costs and a heavier economic burden onto states and vulnerable families, and that is a recipe for increasing poverty,” said Senator Reed. “As more Americans feel the pinch, Congress must act swiftly to restore and strengthen SNAP before Trump-Republicans’ devastating cuts kick in. We must also deliver relief to hard-working families bearing the undue burden of President Trump’s cost-raising tariff taxes and repeated failures to address the skyrocketing costs of health care.”

Fed Hill House 2_JFR & Student Volunteers

This week, Senator Reed teamed up with Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and others to introduce the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025 (S.3281). The bill would reinstate SNAP funding and access, reversing the changes that slashed $187 billion in food benefits from Americans in need.

“FHH’s Swiss Street Food Pantry works daily to feed our neighbors in need, but we are only part of the solution to hunger in our community. We appreciate Senator Reed’s leadership on legislation that restores essential support for individuals and families whose income doesn’t provide enough to put nutritious food on the table. We also applaud his efforts to strengthen local food systems by increasing access to fresh, locally sourced foods from farmers and producers” said Kimberly Fernandez, executive director of Federal Hill House.

Federal Hill House operates one of Rhode Island’s largest and most visited food pantries, serving approximately 3,900 families across nearly 21,000 visits so far this year – an 14 percent increase over the same period last year. The organization distributed 2 million pounds of food to Rhode Islanders in 2024.

Senator Reed is also the author of bipartisan legislation that would increase access to locally-sourced, fresh, healthy, and nutritious food in underserved communities and schools. The Strengthening Local Food Security Act (S.2338) would create a permeant grant program for state and tribal governments to procure local foods from family farmers, fishermen, and food producers.

“I’m working across the aisle with my colleague Jim Justice on legislation that would give states federal grants to purchase nutritious local food directly from their farmers and fishermen and get that food to America’s food banks and pantries and into our schools,” said Senator Reed. “To fight food insecurity and higher food prices, we need to get creative and we need to do it now. I will continue working with my colleagues in Congress to get the Strengthening Local Food Security Act passed and to get local, healthy, fresh food on the tables of Americans.”