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Essential Facts, Data, and Arguments
Republican leaders in Washington, D.C., plan to extend parts of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, benefiting the wealthiest Americans, by potentially cutting safety-net programs that aid low-income families, such as the Affordable Care Act, Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicaid. Anthony Hoffman, a human services worker who grew up in a low-income household reliant on these programs, argues that cuts to these vital services would cause significant suffering for families in need. Hoffman emphasizes the importance of these programs for lifting people out of poverty and warns that cutting them would only benefit the wealthy, while harming working families and straining state budgets.
As GOP leaders in Washington aim to extend expiring elements of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered taxes for America’s wealthiest, they are reportedly considering funding these cuts by reducing safety-net programs for low-income families. Anthony Hoffman from Taylor, Pennsylvania, grew up with these essential programs.
Hoffman mentioned in an interview with the Pennsylvania Independent that these cuts could lead to severe hardship.
Now a human services employee, Hoffman shared that his parents’ income was insufficient for their family.
“I was born into the welfare system,” he noted. “My dad has been on disability my whole life. My mom just works every day, blue-collar factory work. They’re hard workers. They do get stuff done. But of course, the money they’ve made has never truly been enough. So growing up, it was a family of five of us, and only on, like, $25,000 a year.”
With federal and state program support, Hoffman graduated college while working. “We lived in projects, we’ve been on Section 8 [a housing voucher program], all of it, used [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] food stamps, state medical insurance [Medicaid], etc.”
GOP majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives plan to use budget reconciliation to bypass the filibuster, allowing them to approve President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and increase border security and defense spending.
To finance these costs, House Republicans consider slashing Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, Temporary Aid for Needy Families, SNAP, and Medicaid.
Hoffman’s story is not uncommon. In 2024, 2 million Pennsylvanians used SNAP benefits. Approximately 3 million people received Medicaid, while tens of thousands obtained TANF benefits in 2023.
“It means the world to me,” Hoffman stated about Medicaid. “Health care, as we know, for the people of our country, it helps lift them up. Because if you’re facing X, Y, Z medical issues, we know that medical issues cause limitations to our everyday jobs and abilities.” He said that after shoulder injury, he was unable to work for weeks in child care or as a driver until the program covered repair surgery.
Hoffman urges lawmakers to avoid cutting safety nets, fearing it will hurt families and impact state budgets. “What I would tell them is, you’re not helping anybody but the rich by doing this, right? Because we know that’s where the funding is going. We’re not seeing it go back and cutting our deficits. Our state budgets are going to be reduced drastically,” he said. “What we’re going to see is not only the people being cut off the program suffer, but also other individuals in the community, because we have to take money away from them to be able to replace the loss, to help the other people who need it as well.”
“I personally am very grateful for the programs that we have because it allowed me to go from a kid growing up in the projects to a hard-working, college-educated individual, and because of that, I’ve been able to thrive,” Hoffman concluded.
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