As they prepare to take control of the White House and Congress next month, conservatives are eyeing cuts to federal programs that help tens of millions of women pay for medical, food, housing and transportation costs. .
Cutting or overhauling social assistance programs, a long-standing goal of Republican lawmakers, could be devastating for women living in poverty. Advocates say social safety net programs are already severely underfunded.
“As we start a new administration, I’m really worried about women’s lives. We’re seeing so many policies, so many budget cuts,” said Christian Nunez, president of the National Organization for Women. .
Republicans say they want to keep their campaign promise to cut government spending, and say three major programs are likely targets. Medicaid, a joint state and federal health insurance program for low-income people. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a cash transfer program that replaces welfare. and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
While conservatives frame budget cuts as making government more efficient and even restoring freedom, advocates and experts for families with little or no income argue that cutting these programs would mean more They argue that it will push people, especially women and children, further into poverty.
“It’s going to put a huge burden on women,” said Elaine Waxman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute’s Center on Income and Benefits Policy, a nonprofit research institute.
It is difficult to predict exactly what Congressional Republicans or the Trump administration will do. Congressional leaders have remained tight-lipped about negotiations, and the president-elect has not finished assembling his team of advisors. None of the spokespersons contacted for this story responded by phone or email.
But the organization known for advising top leaders in Congress and the former Trump administration has laid out a fairly detailed roadmap.
Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the next government, denies that the proposed changes will have a negative impact on women, saying instead that marriage and “family values” will improve women’s economic situation. He claims to do so. “Marriage, healthy family formation, and delaying sex to prevent pregnancy are virtually ignored in terms of priorities, yet these goals can reverse the cycle of poverty in meaningful ways.” The section on proposed changes to TANF and Snap says:
Many other organizations studying the issue say that forcing or encouraging marriage will not eliminate poverty. And a recent study by a team at the University of South Carolina found that when state laws make it harder for pregnant women to divorce, they are more likely to be killed by their partners.
President Trump has promised not to attack Social Security and Medicare, two of the most expensive and popular government programs. But he and Congress are facing a deadline to extend the 2017 tax reform that increased the federal deficit. They’re going to have to cut something, and social spending programs, especially the $805 billion Medicaid program, are low-hanging fruit for conservatives.
Trump repeatedly tried to cut Snap Inc. during his last term in office. His 2021 budget proposal would have cut the program by more than $180 billion, or nearly 30%, over 10 years. Conservatives in Congress are continuing these efforts and could pass the bill next year if they win majorities in the House and Senate.
The Republican Study Committee, whose members make up about three-quarters of the House Republican caucus, recommends increasing work requirements for Snap and TANF.
“SNAP and our benefit system should accept that work provides dignity and independence and encourage individuals to find gainful employment rather than being paid to stay home. “Yes,” the plan, announced in March, said.
Many studies question whether expanding work requirements would do anything other than force people to cut off benefits without helping people find work. “I think there’s a misconception that people who need help aren’t working,” said Mae Powers, chief development and communications officer at Martha’s Table, a nonprofit aid organization in Washington, D.C. “People are like a paycheck, a crisis, a broken down car, apart from needing services.”
Snap currently helps 41 million people buy groceries and other essentials every month. More than 55% of people under 65 receiving SNAP benefits in 2022 were women, according to the National Women’s Law Center, a gender justice advocacy group. About a third of them were women of color, according to the NWLC.
Among other things, cuts to these programs will put women in dangerous situations, the NWLC said, noting that “SNAP helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assault establish basic financial security.” said.
TANF, which provides cash assistance, overwhelmingly benefits women. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of adult TANF recipients in 2022 will be 370,000 women and 69,000 men.
Medicaid is perhaps the most attractive target for conservatives because it can be used to undermine the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Republicans have been trying to make the ACA a reality since it was signed into law in 2010 without a single Republican vote.
The federal government shares Medicaid costs with the states. The ACA aimed to allow Medicaid to cover more people by offering to pay for virtually all additional costs. As of November, all but 10 states extended coverage to an additional 21 million people, or about a quarter of all Medicaid recipients, after years of resistance from many Republican-led states. Expanded.
Medicaid pays for more than 40% of births in the United States and also covers new mothers for 60 days of pregnancy-related issues. It also pays for the medical expenses of 60% of all nursing home residents, more than 70% of whom are women.
According to the health research organization KFF, Medicaid expansion has helped improve care for women before, during, and after pregnancy.
But most Republicans in Congress have never approved this federal spending. The proposed Medicaid funding cuts, which would save hundreds of billions of dollars, are being compiled by the Paragon Health Institute, a conservative health think tank headed by Brian Blades, the Trump administration’s chief health adviser.
Experts predict states will be unable or unwilling to close the gap. Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University, said, “In the face of such drastic cuts in federal Medicaid funding, states have no choice but to make truly drastic cuts to eligibility, benefits, and provider reimbursement rates.” “We will have no choice but to do so,” he said in the analysis.
That means women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities will lose insurance coverage as facilities close and health care providers stop seeing patients.
The National Organization for Women said the impact would be “widespread, devastating and long-lasting.”
This article is published in partnership with The Fuller Project, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to reporting on women’s issues around the world. Sign up for the Fuller Project newsletter.
