Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has called on state lawmakers to replace tens of millions of dollars in anti-hunger funds cut last year under the Trump administration’s “big beautiful bill.”
In his proposed budget released last Thursday, the state’s widely popular Republican governor urged the GOP-dominated state legislature to allocate $46 million to replace funds lost due to bill’s cutbacks of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than one in 10 Georgians receive benefits under the program.
Passed by both houses of U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Trump in July, the administration’s marquee spending bill reduces federal support for state SNAP staff to 25% from 50%.
Under Kemp’s proposal, the state monies would be used starting in October to help pay the more than 3,000 state caseworkers and other personnel who administer the program.
That month marks the start of the federal fiscal year, when funds from Washington for the program start drying up. After that, the additional costs to the state for supporting the program would be about $62 million annually, according to an estimate from the Georgia Department of Human Services.
In his proposed budget, Kemp also recommends spending $12 million in additional state money on software to help reduce inaccurate SNAP payments.
Kemp, who is overseeing his last session of the legislature before stepping down after two terms as governor, had asked in July last year most state agencies refrain from asking for new money in the fiscal year that starts July 1. But the state agency that administers SNAP funds informed its board last year that it would request the money.
The governor, state House and state Senate must agree on a final budget by April 2.
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