Senator Reverend Warnock spoke to the Albany Herald about the social and economic impact that GOP cuts to federal nutrition programs would have on rural Georgians as a result of their new spending bill

The SNAP program helps millions of working families across the country with their grocery bill each month. Every dollar in federal investment generates $1.79 in economic activity. In 2023, stores and retailers in Georgia saw revenues of over $3.6 billion from SNAP benefits

Senator Reverend Warnock: “It makes no sense to take the food out of the mouths of poor, rural children to give tax cuts to rich folks. It’s people in the middle…it’s hard-working people who will feel the impact”

Washington, D.C. – In an interview with the Albany Herald, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) warned rural Georgians that the elderly, people with disabilities, children, farmers, and small business owners will be those most impacted by cuts to key nutrition programs in Washington Republicans’ new spending bill. Senator Warnock stressed that cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps millions of working families afford groceries, would hit rural Georgians hardest because the majority of Georgia counties with the highest rates of families who rely on SNAP are rural. As a result, rural economies receive a larger lift from the program than many of their counterparts in metro-Atlanta. 

“There are people who work every single day and are still food-insecure,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “Poor people don’t have lobbyists. Billionaires and corporations do. You are seeing in this request the outsize impact of money and power in our politics.”

On May 22, 2025, Senator Warnock published a white paper exposing the hidden harm of Washington Republicans’ plan to pay for their tax cut to billionaires by shifting the cost of nutrition assistance to the states, ultimately making it harder for Georgia families to cover their grocery bill. The report finds that Georgia families would suffer the most under the GOP spending bill with a projected loss of over $860 million, disproportionately affecting Georgia’s rural communities.

SNAP helps vulnerable families supplement their budget by just $6.16 per day and lifts millions of Americans out of poverty each year. In 2023, stores and retailers in Georgia saw over $3.6 billion in revenue thanks to SNAP, helping local grocery stores keep their doors open.

“The thing I want to emphasize is it will be rural Georgians impacted,” said Sen. Warnock. “What we will see is huge cuts in benefits. Small communities will be particularly hard hit. In Dougherty County, more than a third (of residents) are on SNAP. It will be a great impact to the local economy.”

Hours after Senator Warnock published his report, Washington Republicans passed their $4.5 trillion spending bill through the House of Representatives. According to the House Republicans’ bill provisions advanced by the House Agriculture Committee on May 14, 2025, beginning in 2028, Washington Republicans would require all states to pay a 5% cost-share, shifting the burden from the federal government to the states. However, most states have higher payment error rates, like Georgia, and would have to pay even more.

Georgia could be on the hook for $867 million in new costs on the state budget, leaving children, seniors, and disabled people more likely to be unable to afford groceries.

The full article can be found HERE and below:

ALBANY – Georgia’s elderly, disabled and children, as well as farmers, would be the casualties of a congressional spending bill that made its way through the House early Thursday morning.

That’s the assessment of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock concerning the “big beautiful bill” backed by President Trump that will now advance to the Senate. Georgia’s potential loss would be $860 million in food assistance.

“Small communities will be particularly hard hit,” Georgia’s junior senator said of the legislation, which also contains reductions in Medicaid spending. “It’s an unfunded mandate that shifts the cut to the state. What we will see is huge cuts in benefits.”

On Thursday, the senator released an analysis of the potential impact on residents of the Peach State. Among his takeaways are that 1.4 million Georgians rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), with more than 69% of participants in 694,000 households being families with children. More than 28% of SNAP recipients were in households with family members who are elderly or disabled.

In addition, state residents in rural areas are disproportionately likely to benefit from SNAP, with more than 77% of counties with the highest SNAP participation being rural. Between 2015 and 2019 SNAP lifted 250,000 Georgians, including 112,000 children, out of poverty each year, according to Warnock’s analysis.

“The thing I want to emphasize is it will be rural Georgians impacted,” he said. “In Dougherty County, more than a third (of residents) are on SNAP. It will be a great impact to the local economy.”

Nationally in 2024, of the 42 million Americans who received SNAP benefits, two out of three were either a child, senior citizen or adult with a disability, according to Warnock, and 96% of households of two or more contained at least one child, senior citizen or person with a disability.

In addition to the moral argument, there is also an economic one in that each federal dollar spent on the SNAP program generated $1.79 in economic activity in 2023, accounting for $3.6 billion in revenue at Georgia businesses, according to the senator’s analysis.

“Poor people don’t have lobbyists,” Warnock said. “Billionaires and corporations do. You are seeing in this request the outsize impact of money and power in our politics.

“It makes no sense to take the food out of the mouths of poor, rural children to give tax cuts to rich folks. It’s people in the middle … it’s hard-working people who will feel the impact. There are people who work every single day and are still food-insecure. As a pastor, I will continue to make the moral argument.”

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