To the editor:

If you want an overhaul of SNAP (a.k.a. food stamps) that offends both conservative and liberal sensibilities, then President Donald Trump’s recent budget proposal will do the trick. His budget calls for cutting billions each year from SNAP and aims to knock off at least 4 million people from the program. His plan also calls for replacing some of a person’s food stamps with a food box lacking fruit and vegetables, which will lead to less-healthy meals. In turn, this change would mean fewer customers in local stores and less consumer choice.

Who are the people who will lose out under this plan? People like my late Uncle Donald. In the last years of his life, he suffered from debilitating cancer and liver problems. He was unable to work. He quickly became impoverished. My family wasn’t able to always bail him out. Food stamps were one of his few lifelines. In addition to illness or disability, people need food stamps because of natural disasters, being laid off, or trying to live off a Social Security check that is too small.

This is why Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young need to oppose any changes to SNAP.

William E. Smith III, Bloomington

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