Virginia’s Fourth District Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan said the pending cuts to SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, could impact about 34,000 of her constituents and the grocery stores that serve them, even those in rural Surry County.
“As I saw when I visited the only grocery store in Surry County, Surry Market, if they close people will have to drive at least 30 miles to get fresh food,” McClellan said Monday.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about $197 billion was cut from SNAP under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. That translates into over $350 million in cuts for Virginia’s nearly 450,000 SNAP enrollees.
Derek Houston is with The Market at 25th, an independent grocery store that opened to address one of Richmond’s food deserts. He said The Market already runs on tight margins.
“Cutting SNAP makes it a lot harder for stores like ours to stay afloat," Houston said. "It will make it much harder to provide healthy food to our communities.”
In a statement Monday, First District Congressman Rob Wittman said he quote "remained committed to ensuring that our most vulnerable populations have access to the resources they need, including SNAP benefits” and Trump's budget bill aimed to quote “eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
