Posts by Chad Bolt
The Iran War has likely cost $25 billion by now. What could $25 billion fund domestically instead?
They've shown us their cards. I just did the math. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/w... www.politico.com/f/?id=000001... 7/7
The worst part: the nonpartisan scorekeepers at CBO tell us this will pay for the equivalent of, according to figures provided by Pentagon officials, ONE HOUR OF WAR IN IRAN.
A 10 year policy change making it harder for families to put food on the table... for 1 hour of war. 6/7
Congress continues to do nothing to permanently tackle skimming - which is *actual crime* perpetrated *against* SNAP beneficiaries where thieves target SNAP EBT cards and steal families' benefits. But sure, eliminate the tolerance threshold. frac.org/wp-content/u... 5/7
Rs are going after the SNAP "tolerance threshold," a policy used in quality control measurement. Eliminating it will increase states' new costs and thereby the fiscal pressures they're already under to cut benefits, restrict eligibility, or outright leave the program. 4/7
Even though Trump's own USDA reported before passage of HR 1 that payment accuracy was at a "historic high," and despite already slashing $187B from SNAP last year - cuts that the R and D governors of 50 states asked Congress to delay - the program is under attack again. 3/7
Looks like Republicans will move another reconciliation bill, this time not to give billionaires another round of huge tax cuts, but to pay for ICE and the Iran war. Included in the bill will likely be a set of measures that will further cut benefit programs, including SNAP. 2/7
Congressional Republicans appear ready to put SNAP benefits even MORE at risk for kids and their families for the next 10 years, in order to pay for ONE HOUR of war in Iran.
I wish I were making this up. firstfocus.org/update/will-... 1/7
Text of graphic: Did you know? The Republican megabill enacted the deepest SNAP cuts in history in July 2025. By December, 2.5 million fewer people were receiving SNAP benefits.
New USDA data show 2.5 million fewer people participated in SNAP in December compared to July, when the Republican megabill (H.R. 1) enacted the deepest SNAP cuts in history. This is only the beginning — even more people will lose SNAP as the full brunt of these cuts take effect.
There’s still time to repeal these cuts. That's what the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act, introed today, would do. Head to CampaignForChildren.org to tell your Member of Congress to support it, and the 16 million kids who rely on SNAP. 7/7
Without SNAP, we know kids are hungrier and have a harder time concentrating in school. Their test scores suffer. They're likelier to develop chronic health conditions, and they're even likelier to see neglect or abuse at home. It doesn't have to be this way! 6/
When states are hit with this, we’ll likely see outcomes similar to what happened during the shutdown: families faced w impossible choices to keep food on tables, food banks stretched beyond limits, state budgets that can’t cover all the critical programs kids need to thrive. 5/
Why does that matter? It’s a preview of what’s to come next year, thanks to the "One Big Beautiful Bill." That’s when the largest cuts to SNAP in history – $200 billion over 10 years – start to take effect and states will be left to pick up the tab. 4/
States found out what it would be like if they had to run SNAP without the support they’re used to from the federal govt. It didn’t go well. They had to move money from other critical programs to fill huge gaps left by the federal govt’s failure to cover Nov. SNAP payments. 3/
While SNAP benefits were interrupted during the shutdown, the whole system was in chaos. Families had to choose: food or rent? Food or diapers? Food or gas? Food banks tried to step up but they were stretched to the brim – so much so that many had to turn families away. 2/
16 million kids rely on SNAP for more than just nutrition: it improves their health, educational outcomes, and stability at home. The shutdown showed us what happens when kids have to go without it, and why Congress has to avert deep cuts taking effect soon. firstfocus.org/update/child... 1/
Huge news here. This plan went so far that it could have affected tens of thousands of children, on top of more than a million older workers and their retirement security and the health care they need. Glad to see SSA changing course. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
The Trump Administration is abandoning plans for the biggest-ever cut to Social Security Disability Insurance, which would have hit older workers hardest.
The rule would have devastated up to 1.5 million workers' financial stability, retirement security & access to health care.
wapo.st/4o48J24
I regret to inform you that the sympathy shipments have been tariffed
Children with disabilities have been left behind for far too long by existing federal policy, and these attacks further hurt them at a time when policymakers should be dedicating more support to their development. 8/
And of course, all children remain in the Administration's crosshairs. Case in point: their effort this month to go all the way to the Supreme Court to deprive 16 million kids of food to withhold SNAP funding they’d earlier been compelled to release during the government shutdown. 7/
This comes on the heels of OBBB, which cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and CHIP. Together they cover about 2-in-5 children with special health care needs. Schools rely on Medicaid to cover IDEA-mandated supports, which could force elimination of other programs when Medicaid funding is gone. 6/
In addition to these SSI changes, the Trump Admin's RIFs also gutted the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which is responsible for IDEA, the key law protecting the rights of students w disabilities - leaving the office less able to enforce protections for kid in schools. 5/
This change in regulatory policy is a step backward. Lawmakers are building bipartisan support to update SSI's outdated eligibility rules for the first time in 40 yrs, so the rules stop punishing people for saving for emergencies and working part time if they're able. That's the right direction. 4/
SSA proposes to make the eligibility rules even MORE complicated and complex -- forcing beneficiaries to navigate more red tape and an agency that is already stretched thin to unnecessarily devote more time and bandwidth to administer the program that could be committed to higher priority needs. 3/
SSI is a lifeline for children with disabilities whose families have limited income and resources, helping cover the extra costs like medical care, therapies, adaptive equipment, and transportation. This new rule could hurt as many as 100,000 of those kids, by making it harder to qualify. 2/
The Trump Admin's shameful attacks on kids with disabilities are happening on every front: legislation (OBBB), regs, and RIFs. The Social Security Administration's new proposed rule to limit SSI eligibility is yet another example. 1/ firstfocus.org/update/recen...
After being ordered by a lower court to use funds Congress has already made available to pay Nov SNAP benefits, the Trump Admin is now going all the way to the Supreme Court to deprive 16 million kids of food. Unhinged levels of cruelty.
SNAP helps keep 16 million kids from going hungry. USDA has options to keep SNAP funded through November while the government is still shut down, but so far it is deliberately not using them. www.booker.senate.gov/imo/media/do...