Trump tax and spending law means losing access to benefits

PAUL WILLIAMS III | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Sangria Noble of Charlotte speaks July 3 during a rally near the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services to protest cuts to federal health care and food assistance programs.

The Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act isn’t so beautiful to Kellie Williams.

The law slashes SNAP and Medicaid funding and increases appropriations for federal immigration enforcement and the military. The Medicaid cuts are estimated to reduce federal spending by $793 billion over 10 years and result in 10.3 million fewer people enrolled in the health insurance program by 2034. The law reduces nutrition funding, which includes SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Aid Program, by $186 billion between 2025 and 2034 and imposes additional eligibility requirements for able-bodied applicants. 

At a July 3 rally in front of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services, Williams, a student who works two part-time jobs and doesn’t receive health care benefits, railed against the law’s impact on vulnerable Charlotteans. 

“This is an attack on working class people, on children,” said Williams, an organizer for DemocracyNC. “Somehow, they can always find money for endless wars, to drop bombs, for military bases; but when it’s time to save money, we’re cutting public services? We’re cutting things that make it so that people can stay alive?”

Republican backers of the law contend it will reduce fraud and waste – which independent agencies have found is relatively small. According to a Center for Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of fiscal year 2024 U.S. Department of Agriculture Data, 62% of SNAP recipients are families with minor children and 38% are in working families.

Federal Reserve Economic Data reports there were 146,700 SNAP recipients in Mecklenburg County in 2022. In North Carolina, 1.42 million people – one in eight residents – received monthly SNAP benefits in 2024, a higher rate than the national average. The Food Research and Action Center reports that, nationally, most recipients are elderly, disabled, or children. 

In addition, more than 2.3 million North Carolinians, or roughly 1 in 4 residents, have Medicaid, a health insurance program for the elderly, children, low-income individuals, and the disabled. 

The Southern Piedmont chapter of the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign reported Mecklenburg residents have already been cut off from food assistance and health insurance. Poor People’s Campaign organizer Sangria Noble, speaking from behind a coffin, predicted thousands of Americans will die because as a result. 

“This coffin represents the outcome of ICE agents targeting and attacking our Black and brown communities…this coffin represents our loved ones that we have already lost whose death certificates should have read, ‘cause of death: lack of healthcare; cause of death: lack of housing; cause of death: lack of resources,’” she said. “How many more of us have to die? How many more of us have to suffer?” 

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Arthur Griffin said the county won’t know the ins and outs of federal cuts until the state knows, which might be as early as next week. However, Griffin also maintains that, as a result of the new law, “no one has been cut off of anything.

“Potential regulations are forthcoming,” he said, “and we are sitting on pins and needles waiting to get the new regulations coming out of the state, and then we’ll be able to tell you how many people are cut off because of the new rules.” 

Previously, the agreed coverage was that the state would cover 10% of healthcare costs to Medicaid recipients, while the federal government covers the remainder, Griffin said. Every state is allocated federal funds determined by population. NC lawmakers, who expanded Medicaid eligibility last year, had been reluctant to expand coverage in the past. 

“I don’t think the state of North Carolina is going to pay the difference, but right now, I don’t know what the difference is,” Griffin said. “It’s almost like a tariff. You don’t know if the store is going to eat that tax, or if they’re going to pass the tariff along to you with a higher price.” The legislation includes a “range” of cuts for SNAP between $186 billion and $300 billion over the next 10 years. 

“It’s too early to tell, and that’s why it’s so important to help residents develop the skills and the counties and communities develop the opportunities for people to be able to become a little bit more self-sufficient,” Griffin said. “That is critically important.” 

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