BRAZOS VALLEY, Texas (KRHD) — The reconciliation bill includes hundreds of billions in proposed cuts to SNAP benefits and Medicaid. With uncertainty ahead, the Brazos Valley Food Bank is expecting more of our neighbors in need.
- The Trump administration's reconciliation bill is in the hands of the Senate after passing the House.
- At the Brazos Valley Food Bank, the effort continues to feed our communities. However, an uncertain funding future is putting our neighbors in a vulnerable position.
- While cuts have not been finalized yet, they are almost a guarantee if the bill passes, with a vote expected this Summer.
- Theresa Mangapora, Executive Director of the Brazos Valley Food Bank, tells 15 ABC they are anticipating more of our neighbors will turn to them, so they are asking for any donations and support they can get.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"It's very big, it's the big beautiful bill," President Donald Trump said.
The Trump administration's reconciliation bill is not so beautiful for some locals.
"You don't know how, how dire it is for people to have these benefits — it's life saving, it's life changing," said Carolyn Williams, a leader at Vocal Texas and a Medicaid recipient.
The bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate, with hundreds of billions in proposed cuts to government benefits.
"People are really afraid of these cuts, [it's] gonna impact the whole community, so they're terrified, you know, if this bill passes and we get cut off, I mean, it's gonna be terrifying to people," said Williams. "People are complaining, they're anxious, they're nervous, they don't know what to do."
Williams is one of those people.
15 ABC asked Williams how she and the benefits she is on would be impacted by the cuts.
"It would impact me a lot because I get Medicaid and Medicare and, I have had an HIV status for 25 years, and it would definitely. I would really wither away with this illness and die, you know, without the vital medicines that I need to keep me alive."
Williams is also a leader in Vocal Texas, an organization that rallied outside Senator John Cornyn's office on Thursday in Austin.
"That's what I'm aiming for, the quality of life," said Williams. "I don't wanna be, you know, bound and sick without the proper medication that I need to keep me [functioning] on a daily basis."
Back in the Brazos Valley, the food bank is trudging through uncharted waters.
"I've learned a lot about the value of the SNAP program and the Medicaid program to a lot of families in the Brazos Valley who live paycheck to paycheck," Theresa Mangapora, Executive Director of the Brazos Valley Food Bank, said. "The inflation on food, a cut to SNAP benefits, and losing your health insurance all at once is gonna put a lot of families who are already on the line of barely making it in a tough situation."
