Brazos Valley Food Bank preparing for new round of pending budget cuts

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - Access to nutritional assistance may look different in the Brazos Valley soon. A local food bank explains how, with the House passing a bill backed by the president, some federally-funded programs may hurt in the long run.

The House voted to pass the Reconciliation Bill, also referred to as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” by President Trump. It was narrowly passed on Thursday by a 215-214 vote in favor of the bill that would cut funding for programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“The rollbacks will take many different shapes. It could be that people will no longer qualify for the benefits. It could be that because a share of the cost of the program is going to be brought down to the states, individual states may not be able to afford to do that,” explained Brazos Valley Food Bank Executive Director Theresa Mangapora.

SNAP is the nation’s largest food assistance program. In 2024, it helped about 41 million people in the U.S. per month.

“For every one meal that a food bank can give someone, SNAP delivers nine,” Mangapora pointed out.

Last year a little more than $100 billion was spent on SNAP. That’s about 1.5% of all federal spending.

“The pantries are our lifeline,” added Mangapora. “They’re already saying to us, ‘we’re going to give out less food to each individual that comes,’ and then after that, the next thing would be running out of food and having to turn people away that are in line.”

The bill will now go to the Senate where republicans say they are already planning changes.