First, we want to acknowledge everyone who stepped up during Northeast SNAP Day of Action in April. Vermont was able to have an outsized impact on our Northeast Region thanks to you! We can think of this current moment as SNAP Day of Action – PART 2. We all, together, need to raise our voices once again to protect SNAP and Medicaid by telling Members of the Senate in Washington, D.C. “NO Cuts to Basic Need Programs!”

The budget reconciliation bill that we were advocating against passed the house by just ONE vote. Now, it is in the Senate where it needs just 51 votes to pass. This bill, The “Big Beautiful Bill,” contains cuts that could put every single (SNAP) 3SquaresVT participant at risk of losing benefits, and 20% of people at risk of losing benefits entirely. Many of us have neighbors we know personally who would be harmed if they could no longer access 3SquaresVT benefits each month. You may be wondering how we would continue to feed everyone with this new, higher level of need. That is the challenge we would all experience – how to continue to support people with our current resources if the $155 million in benefits received by 65,000 people in Vermont were to decrease by 20%.

Senators plan to vote soon on this bill, so it is, again, time to act!

What can you do?

1. If you live in Vermont, the best thing you can do is to call or email a friend (or two, or three!) in other states – today – to make sure they are contacting their Senators right now. Call your friends and family in the states below and encourage them to call their Senators. These Senators have been identified as potential NO votes on this bill and they need to hear from their constituents! Please reach out to people you know in these states to help protect SNAP and Medicaid. Their phone call can make a difference:
   • Alaska: Senator Murkowski, Senator Sullivan
   • Arkansas: Senator Boozman
   • Kentucky: Senator McConnell
   • Maine: Senator Collins
   • Missouri: Senator Hawley
   • North Carolina: Senator Tillis
   • West Virginia: Senator Capito
   • Iowa: Senator Grassley, Senator Ernst
   • Kansas: Senator Marshall, Senator Moran
   • Mississippi: Senator Hyde-Smith
   • Utah: Senator Curtis
   • Ohio: Senator Husted
   • Pennsylvania: Senator McCormick

   This Toolkit provides all of the information your friends and family need to make these calls.

   You can also spread the word on social media, using our posts on Facebook and Instagram.

2. Thank our Vermont Senators and Congresswoman for their STRONG opposition of this bill. Senator Welch was on Vermont Edition recently speaking about potential impacts of this harmful legislation. Listen here to what Senator Welch said about these harmful cuts.

Want more details about these changes?

Our friends at Hunger Free Vermont have produced this detailed analysis of what each of these changes to federal food assistance programs would mean for Vermont.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has put together these state-by-state fact sheets to help each state understand the harmful impacts of the cuts included in this bill.

2025 State Legislative Session Wrap Up

The State Legislative Session is over….for now. Legislators will be back for a veto session and more work on the education reform bill. At this time, there are no food security bills on the veto list! Here is the incredible progress we made together this year. From food access to farms to protecting school meals, our work will make a difference for neighbors across Vermont.

• Universal School Meals were protected: After the Governor threatened to repeal the Universal School Meals law earlier this session, our community of parents, teachers, students, farmers, and more stepped up to say that we would not accept this. Our message was heard, loud and clear. The Vermont Legislature protected Universal School Meals, largely thanks to your advocacy! Vermont students will continue to be able to count on breakfast and lunch, at no cost, every day in school.
• The Vermonters Feeding Vermonters grant program passed and is now law! This means that instead of returning to ask the Legislature for funding each year, this funding can be included as part of the administration’s annual budget within the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.

Funding to Support Food and Food Access in the FY26 State Budget

All of the items in the list below are part of the slate of requests from the Food Security Roadmap Coalition.

• Vermont Foodbank’s Vermonters Feeding Vermonters program was funded at $500,000 to support neighbors and Vermont farms.
• Vermont Foodbank received $1 million to support food purchases for our network of partners to distribute across the state.
• NOFA-VT’s Crop Cash and Farm Share Programs were funded at $450,000. These programs help Vermonters access fresh foods at their farmers markets and through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.
• The Land Access and Opportunity Board was funded at $1.63 million to continue their critical work to improve land and housing access among historically marginalized or disadvantaged communities.
• The Legislature recognized the importance of the 2-1-1 program, which helps connect Vermonters to state resources, by making the full funding of this resource permanent. Now, instead of fighting for funding year after year, 2-1-1 can fully focus on serving Vermonters and connecting them to essential resources.
• The Legislature expanded and increased the accessibility of the Vermont Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which will boost economic security for eligible Vermonters.
• The Administration of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) was funded at $150k to support the organizations doing this work in continuing to feed children and adults in care settings.

There were a few items that we, and our food security partners, will continue to work on in the next year of the biennium because they did not pass this session:

• Restaurant Meals Program
• Farm Security Fund
• Funding for responsive readiness for emergencies – Vermont Foodbank will continue to work toward a state partnership to support our partners and neighbors in emergencies and disasters.

Thank you for your continued partnership in advocating for food security for our neighbors in Vermont. It takes all of us together to make the change that is needed to ensure that everyone has enough nourishing food every day. We are so glad to do this work with you!