According to research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 86% of all Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits go to households that include a child, elderly person, or person with disabilities — and ~92% of all SNAP benefits go to households with income at or below the federal poverty line.

The Thrifty Food Plan plays an important role in ensuring recipients of food assistance are able to access food that composes a balanced and nutritious diet. In tandem, the Biden administration has increased food assistance outlays to account for increased costs associated with more nutritious foods.

Project 2025 wants to reverse course and reimpose ineffective work requirements — which recent studies have shown do not actually increase employment but do still drive down the number of people who use food assistance — onto SNAP and reevaluate the Thrifty Food Plan.

From pages 299-300 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Head Start is a critical program that helps over one million children across the nation become ready for school by providing them with mental, emotional, and social support programming. This program provides targeted assistance to low-income children as an important method to bridge inequities and ensure that all children receive a solid foundation as they embark on their educational journey.

Project 2025 proposes to eliminate the program. Without Head Start, families who are already struggling financially could experience even greater economic burdens as they would have to spend more on childcare and education.

From page 482 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Disability benefits are often critical lifelines for veterans who became disabled as a result of their military service — and can be the difference between a veteran being able to put food on the table or not.

Project 2025 proposes to have the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs cut costs by having fewer health conditions qualify veterans for disability benefits — a proposal could greatly restrict disabled veterans’ access to life-sustaining benefits.

From pages 649 – 650 of the Mandate for Leadership.

The people who put food on our tables and ensure our communities get fed are often subject to the whims of unpredictable weather patterns and market conditions. This means that while some years a farmer may be doing great, the next they could be on the brink of economic failure. That’s where safety nets come in.

Project 2025 wants to restrict safety nets for farmers to ‘unusual situations’ — even though we know that the difficult conditions farmers experience are not unusual but common. A restriction of assistance to farmers would disparately impact low-income farmers and those without extensive assets to fall back on when things go awry.

From page 297 of the Mandate for Leadership.

The CIG program plays an important role in awarding federal grants to local communities in order to fund infrastructure projects. After the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was passed in 2021, CIG was responsible for awarding billions of dollars for key public transportation projects across the country.

Project 2025 wants to eliminate CIG, which could make it much harder for Americans without cars to get to work and travel around town — to work or just to be with family and friends.

From page 635 of the Mandate for Leadership.