Missouri is harming people in need of food and medical care. Trump would make it much worse.
We know what Trump would do to SNAP and Medicaid because he already tried it. Project 2025 would go further.
My column for the Missouri Independent today concerns the Kafkaesque obstacle course the state has erected for those applying for SNAP benefits, a.k.a. food stamps, as well as a number of other examples of the state failing spectacularly at administering federal programs: Missouri is doing an atrocious job distributing federal funds owed to Missourians in need.
I rely heavily on the reporting of the Independent’s social services reporter, Clara Bates. Do not miss her latest on how the mess the state has made of Medicaid renewals is making Missouri kids sicker: Missouri children are losing Medicaid coverage at rate that is alarming pediatricians.
The harm to our most vulnerable caused by the Parson administration’s rampant mismanagement is unconscionable. However, federal oversight and public pressure could lead to solutions to these very solvable problems.
That will not happen if Trump wins a second term.
First of all, a second Trump administration will not engage in the kind of support and enforcement actions that the Biden administration is undertaking to help Missouri come into compliance with the law.
Second, we know Trump will seek to drastically limit funding for and access to food and medical benefits because (1) he tried to during his last term with mixed success, using executive orders and waivers to limit benefits when Congress refused to do so. And (2) the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” blueprint for the next Trump term outlines a multi-faceted plan to cut antipoverty benefits.
As I note in my column, the federal government pays 100% of the cost of SNAP benefits and 50% or more of the cost to administer them. For that reason, Republican states have historically avoided imposing procedural barriers that increase the state’s administrative costs for benefits that the state doesn’t have to pay for. These days, however, many red state governors have become so ideological that they prioritize demonstrating hostility to antipoverty programs over the interests of their citizens.
It is hard to say to what extent that is happening in Missouri. The problem may be incompetence, deliberate neglect, malfeasance, or a combination of the three. Regardless, other states are able to administer these programs effectively and Missouri could too.
If Trump becomes president again, however, states will be starved of resources to help poor people and free to make people jump through even more hoops to access what limited resources remain.