Thousands of seniors in Northern California could lose critical food support if the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress press ahead with cuts to nutrition assistance programs.
The cuts would come in two ways. The White House’s 2026 budget proposes slashing the budgets of departments that oversee nutrition programs, including the Department of Health and Human Services. Those cuts would trickle down to nutrition programs.
Then the administration suggests direct cuts. Meals on Wheels, a lifeline for many seniors, would lose almost all of its federal grant funding, about a third of its overall budget. The administration would eliminate the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for low-income seniors.
Food assistance agencies across the North Bay are already operating on the tightest margins. The lingering effects of inflation drove up their costs and squeezed donors. Meanwhile, demand is surging. Coastal Seniors serves 1,500 to 1,700 seniors in Sonoma and Mendocino counties monthly and hesitates to start a wait list given budget uncertainty. Redwood Empire Food Bank serves 7,200 seniors in a five-county region and has turned away hundreds more.
About 1 in 12 Californians faces food insecurity. That rate will worsen if federal cuts happen as planned. It is easy to lose the human toll when looking at big numbers. Real people will go hungry when they lose meals. They might have to cut other household expenses like utilities or medical prescriptions to scrape by.
The proposed cuts are part of a systematic dismantling of established safety nets. There is certainly room to look for opportunities to eliminate waste in a federal budget approaching a $2 trillion annual deficit, but undercutting seniors in need shouldn’t be one of them.
The Trump administration counters that it will deliver nutrition assistance differently by delivering “Make America Healthy Again” food boxes directly to seniors.
Usually when the government rolls out a new program, it launches a pilot study first to work out the kinks and make sure the fundamental concept is sound. If it succeeds, it follows up with an orderly transition.
The abrupt change envisioned in the administration budget is a needless gamble. Officials have not even fully developed the plan for the MAHA boxes. Right now, it is conceptual, lacking specifics for seamlessly delivering help to millions of Americans. Rep. Mike Thompson, who represents the North Bay, refers to this approach as “ready, fire, aim.”
Food banks, Meals on Wheels and other local organizations have operated in communities for decades. They understand their clients’ needs better than some far-off bureaucracy and have established relationships with providers who supply the food they distribute. They do incredible work operating on tight budgets.
Not so long ago, Republicans championed these sorts of public-private partnerships to help vulnerable Americans. They understood that local decision-makers best handle some things, and that federal support could boost charitable organizations that are a linchpin of the social safety net.
Maybe MAHA boxes can work. Maybe they can deliver food more cost-effectively to seniors. Prove it first before slashing support for programs that are doing a good — and probably a great — job already.
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