SNAP cuts in GOP mega-bill could drive up demand at Chicago-area food banks

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The GOP mega-bill could have a big impact on the work of local food pantries.

The "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" includes $300 billion in cuts to SNAP benefits over the next decade.

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That could create a higher demand for help at area food banks that are already struggling.

Food pantries say the need for their services is as great as ever. Just last year, a pantry in West Garfield Park handed out nearly 2 million pounds of food, and they anticipate clearing that number in 2025.

"I worked all my life, and now I got ill, and I had to get Social Security. It's not paying my bills. So, programs like this really help me out," said Red Reid, a volunteer and client at Above and Beyond Food Pantry on Pulaski Road.

Reid is one of the 57,000 people who walked through the pantry in 2024.

"That line is long out there, and it's going to be long all day, as it is every day. With any kind of cut to benefits, that line is just going to get longer, and that's the bottom line," said Ken Cozzi, executive director of Above and Beyond Food Pantry.

Cozzi says, in the first quarter of 2025, his pantry has seen a 14% increase in people coming through his doors in need of food.

According to a preliminary analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, new Republican-proposed legislation would tighten eligibility requirements for SNAP. Adults ages 55-64 would face additional work requirements to qualify.

"I don't want to even try to guess how they came up with these numbers. They are non-sensical to us, though. We can't imagine that anyone in those groups are going to be able to continue to put food on the table for their families," Greater Chicago Food Depository spokesperson Man-Yee Lee said.

In all, the same early analysis projects more than $200 billion in cuts to SNAP over 10 years.

Lee said the impacts of SNAP go far beyond individual people and families.

"For every dollar that is spent through SNAP, actually generates $1.50 for the economy and local communities. So, when businesses are thriving, so are our communities, and so are the residents in it," Lee said.

And with the possibility of cuts to programs like SNAP, people like Reid are left wondering what they'll do.

"It means we have to turn to other ways of getting food. And, for those that struggled all our life to take care of family, it would really be hard on us," Reid said.

Right now, Cozzi says a lot of the concern is the unknown. He says his pantry is monitoring the potential legislation, doing whatever they can to be proactive.