Photo courtesy of BGR partner Capital Area Food Bank.
By Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
In this essay, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, co-founder and chair of Buddhist Global Relief, exposes some of the pitfalls the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” creates for food insecure families living in the United States. He argues that, as people of conscience, we can’t rip plates away from the hands of hungry families. Rather, we must call on our representatives to reverse this heartless bill and ensure that everyone has access to nutritious food.
An old truism, which holds that a nation’s budget is a moral document, applies equally to its spending bills, taxation policies, and the way it allocates revenues. On such criteria, the recent passage by Congress of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” ranks as a blatant failure. It’s a travesty of our country’s ethical obligations, a blight on our standing in the global community, and a violation of the promise proclaimed in the preamble of our Constitution to “establish justice” and “promote the general welfare.”
Since the mission of Buddhist Global Relief is to combat chronic hunger and malnutrition, the specific plank of the megabill that concerns us most is its impact on the food security of the millions of low-income Americans and other residents of this land who live near or below the poverty line. The bill, now signed into law, will push many in these categories into the abyss of deeper poverty and hunger. As people of conscience, we can’t stand by passively and allow this to go forward. Recognizing that we are all bound together in an intricate web of reciprocity, we must come to the rescue of those caught in the line of fire.
In relation to food security, the most devastating impact of the megabill is the blow it deals to SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Originally enacted 50 years ago, SNAP has been our nation’s most effective tool in lifting vulnerable people up from hunger and food insecurity. SNAP is a lifeline helping them afford the food they need for their families to flourish even in times of adversity. Its beneficiaries include children, older adults, unemployed veterans, workers at low-paying jobs, and people with disabilities and serious health issues.
SNAP plays a critical role in reducing poverty, improving health and economic outcomes, and supporting the economy during downturns. One study estimates that every SNAP dollar invested in children returns $62 in value over their lifetimes. It results in improved educational outcomes, higher earnings in adulthood, increased life expectancy, and greater government tax revenue. SNAP is, in short, an asset to the country as a whole.
Despite this, the megabill cuts federal funding for SNAP by $187 billion through 2034, the biggest reduction in funding in its history. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the cuts to SNAP will affect more than 40 million people who receive basic food assistance through the program. These include 16 million children, 8 million seniors, and 4 million non-elderly adults with disabilities. About 4 million people each month will see the food assistance they need terminated or substantially reduced. And this comes as low-income families face stagnating wages that aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of living.
The law also denies food assistance to many immigrants living legally in the U.S. who have been granted humanitarian protections by the U.S. government. Those affected include refugees, people granted asylum, certain survivors of domestic violence, and victims of sex or labor trafficking. Naomi Steinberg, vice president of policy and advocacy at HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit that assists refugees and asylum seekers, said: “There is something spectacularly cruel about ripping out the safety net of people who came to this country who need just a little bit of time to get back on their feet and to begin to be able to contribute economically to this country.”
The law shifts a significant share of funding for SNAP from the federal government onto the states. To preserve SNAP, states may have to move funding away from other priorities such as education and health care. They may have to raise new revenues, reduce SNAP enrollments, or end their SNAP programs entirely. If even a few of the states taking the hardest hits ended their SNAP programs, millions of people would lose this lifeline.
Charitable outlets such as food banks and food pantries are no substitute for the support provided by SNAP. Feeding America is a national network of over 200 food banks that distribute free food to hungry Americans. Each year, BGR provides Feeding America with a grant of $36,000 to sustain its mission. But Feeding America insists that its own distribution channels alone won’t solve food insecurity. “SNAP,” it says, “is a critical piece in ensuring families have enough resources to put food on the table.” For every meal that Feeding America offers, SNAP provides nine meals.
To aggravate the pain, the megabill also makes massive cuts to Medicaid, thus delivering a double blow to working-class families struggling to meet the rising costs of both groceries and health care.
As morally repugnant as the megabill might be because of its cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, the exorbitant gifts it awards to those already living in luxury are just as disgraceful. Without the least qualms, the bill slashes taxes for the wealthy and corporations, adding trillions to the national deficit, which will be pushed down to future generations. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 2026 the bill will give the richest one percent of Americans a total of $117 billion in net tax cuts and more than a trillion in tax cuts over a decade. The richest 5 percent alone will receive 45 percent of the net tax cuts next year. Trump’s tariff policies will offset most of the tax cuts for the bottom 80 percent of Americans, while for the bottom 40 percent, the tariffs impose a cost that is greater than the tax cuts they will receive.
The megabill also lavishes more profligate spending on the military, whose budget is already greater than the next nine countries combined. The bill adds $156 billion in defense spending to the Pentagon’s $848 billion share for fiscal year 2026. This pushes total defense spending over the trillion-dollar mark for the next fiscal year. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the megabill allocates $25 billion to begin building the “Golden Dome,” a missile defense system that is economically and physically impossible and would only drain more money from social programs to enrich wealthy Pentagon contractors.
Both in the cuts it makes to programs that benefit low-income people and in the prizes it offers the ultra-rich, the megabill raises a number of critical questions our country must grapple with if we’re to recover our moral compass: Is our essential relationship with our neighbors—and with those who come to our shores seeking new opportunities—to be driven by fear, suspicion, hostility, and rejection, or can we affirm each other’s humanity and offer everyone the chance to thrive? Are we to become a nation of generosity, equity, and compassion, or one that tears itself apart through miserliness, greed, and a senseless addiction to cruelty? Should our economy pour ever more riches on those already endowed with extreme wealth and power or should we regulate the system in ways designed to uplift everyone, ensuring that no one lacks the essentials of a dignified life? Is our government to be a voice that expresses our collective will—our sense of a common purpose and commitment to the good of all—or will it be hijacked by powerful corporations, narrow interest groups, and multi-billionaires who already have too much wealth?
The answer that resonates best with the values we uphold through Buddhist Global Relief is well articulated in this eloquent statement from the Institute for Policy Studies: “Instead of inflicting policy violence on the most vulnerable, Congress should harness America’s abundant wealth to create a moral economy that works for all of us. By fairly taxing the wealthy and big corporations, reducing our bloated military budget, and de-militarizing immigration policy, we could free up more than enough public funds to ensure we can all survive and thrive. As our country approaches its 250th anniversary, we have no excuse for not investing our national resources in ways that reflect our Constitutional values: to establish justice, domestic tranquility, real security, and the general welfare for all.”
Fortunately, there are members of Congress who are not allowing the cuts to SNAP to slip by unchallenged. Late last month, Democratic members of both the House and the Senate introduced the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025, a proposal that would repeal the cuts to SNAP made in the megabill. The legislation is supported by over 190 House Democrats, every Democratic Senator, and the two independent senators. In introducing the bill, Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) said: “For half a century, our nation has stood behind a bipartisan promise: that no child, no senior, no veteran, and no working family should go hungry. Republicans broke that promise and ripped meals away from millions of Americans in their Budget Betrayal…. We have a responsibility to protect these families. That’s why I am leading Congressional Democrats in introducing legislation to fully repeal the Republican cuts to SNAP and ensure no American family goes hungry.”
Although BGR does not engage in party politics, when it comes to the food security of our fellow Americans, we must oppose any measure that rips the plates away from their hands and leaves them hungry; instead, we must support sound policies that will ensure struggling families can obtain sufficient nutritious food. On these grounds, we endorse the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act. We urge our readers to contact their congressional representatives and ask them to support this bill. In times of adversity, we must all courageously stand up for one another, especially for the least among us.
To contact your congressional representatives in support of this bill, go here.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is co-founder and chair of Buddhist Global Relief.
