Millions of Americans are facing a hunger cliff as food stamps are slashed: 'The poorer you are, the poorer you eat'

• At the start of March, a pandemic-era expansion of food stamps is set to abruptly wind down.
• Those emergency allotments ending will leave some with hundreds less in SNAP benefits each month.
• Impacted SNAP recipients told Insider that they're bracing for tough times and high bills ahead.

After a stroke and heart attack, David Welch is "trying to do something with the rest of my life."

Welch, 50, just went back to school. He's trying to get a degree in psychology, and help others who have struggled like him. But Welch, who lives in Texas with his dog Tinkerbell, will soon face a new struggle: His food budget is about to be slashed from $258 monthly to just $26, while he subsides on a fixed income from disability benefits and continues his schooling.

Welch is one of the millions of Americans suddenly contending with the end of pandemic-era expanded food stamps. In 2020, the federal government stepped in with a slew of extraordinary measures to beef up the social safety net. One of those was temporarily doing away with income testing SNAP benefits, and instead bumping all recipients to receive the maximum amount of money available. The lowest earners, who already qualified for that maximum benefit, received an additional $95 monthly.

SNAP recipients told Insider that those benefits didn't just mean a little extra cash at the grocery store. They meant stability and relief, and an assurance that they'd be able to eat. 

"I wish people knew that it provides such a sense of security for people who are on fixed income to not have to worry about where they're gonna get their next meal," Welch said. "It really improves your mental health and your outlook on life." 

The emergency allotments also helped keep many out of poverty. According to a brief from Laura Wheaton and Danielle Kwon published at the Urban Institute, the emergency allotments of SNAP specifically helped keep "4.2 million people out of poverty in the fourth quarter of 2021."

But the December omnibus bill suddenly stipulated that the emergency allotment program would come to a close in March. That has left states scrambling to inform residents that their cards will have a whole lot less in them when they try to buy groceries this month. For those seeing their benefits slashed amidst still-high food prices, there's not much to do other than brace themselves.

"A lot of people feel very powerless that these decisions are made, and it's affecting people deeply. People are trying to live their lives and it's incredibly hard because food is such a staple," Gina Plata-Nino, deputy director for SNAP at the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), told Insider. "There's certain things that you can live without, right? You can make do sometimes without a car — but you can't survive without food."

A sense of security and nutrition stripped away

For Welch, the emergency allotments have meant the security of knowing there will be food in the fridge. Tania Jividen, who has a fixed income, lives on disability, and is in her 40s, said the extra benefits meant "that my son can eat."

"My rent is $700," Jividen, who lives in Oklahoma, told Insider. "Paying utilities, water, gas, electric, phone, internet, things of that nature. That doesn't leave me a whole lot of money." Food stamps are mainly how her family can afford food.

For some, the emergency allotments meant more than just sustenance — it also meant nutrition.

Barb, who is in her 50s and lives in Kansas, said that the emergency allotment meant being able to eat healthier.

"It's been helping me because I can actually afford to eat better," Barb, whose last name is known to Insider, said. "I can afford more items that are healthier. It's really helped a lot because $23 doesn't buy anything, and the extra $200 a month is a huge help because I live off disability and I don't make that much money a month."

Jay Carano, a 70-year-old in Michigan who is partially disabled and on a fixed income, similarly said the boost was helping him get healthier items.

"I didn't have to budget, and it was really a nice added benefit every month," Carano said.

For Welch, the benefits meant a healthier diet and eating more nutritiously. One big difference: Being able to buy fresh vegetables at the grocery store, rather than ones with a shorter shelf life donated to pantries.

"The truth of the matter is, and I hate to say this, but the poorer you are, the poorer you eat," Tonyia Canales, a disabled grandmother raising her grandson on her fixed income in Texas, told Insider.

She's losing both the emergency allotment and about $130 in regular SNAP benefits, because her Social Security check got an inflation-adjusted bump, pushing her above the income threshold. She's now receiving just $36 for March.

"It was so nice to be able to go to the store and actually buy groceries," Canales said. "But now that that's over, we're going to have to go right back to where we were, which is struggling, and now it's going to be worse because the prices have all gone sky high."

Not sure what they're going to do now

"How do I afford the electric, the water, the toilet paper, the shampoo, and conditioner, the laundry soap?" Jividen said. "How are people supposed to take care of their children without this?"

Barb, knowing that the emergency allotment is coming to an end, said she's been trying to stock up on some items.

"I still have to pay bills, still have to eat, I still have to put gas in my car, and it's just going to take a big chunk out of $200 out of my pay that I get a month," Barb said.

To prepare for the ending of the emergency allotment, Carano said that he had "been trying to keep whatever little bit of benefits I have just to have a surplus." He's already cut back on going to the store — partly due to inflation — something he described as a nice way for him to get outside.

"I'm going to have to go back to my old ways," Carano said. "I just won't be able to get as many good items as I was in the past."

Welch, meanwhile, is preparing to return to his local food pantries, and freeze whatever he can to supplement the food he gets.

The recipients Insider spoke to are just a handful among the millions of people who were still receiving the emergency allotments. And, as they prepare for the benefits to be slashed, they're also facing overburdened food banks bracing for a coming onslaught. The upcoming "hunger cliff" has some recipients saying it's time for change.

"What we're getting with the allotment actually should be what we're getting every month in order to give us the food that we need and to eat healthier," Barb said.

Carano said that he hopes lawmakers realize this transition is not going to be easy.

"I want the lawmakers to come down to our levels of common folk," Jividen said. "I don't know how to say it other than that."

"I want them to make it off less than $2 a day on groceries," she added. "I want them to come here and live my life and worry about it, and then go back to Washington, DC, and tell them how it is."