With President Donald Trump’s cuts via the Big Beautiful Bill, Wisconsin taxpayers may be on the hook for $284 million for the FoodShare program, and a coalition of over 160 stakeholders, including AARP, agribusinesses, hunger relief organizations and advocacy groups from across Wisconsin are urging the Wisconsin state Legislature to approve key investments and resources to prevent Wisconsin taxpayers from having to pay.
The coalition said taxpayers will be on the hook for over $284 million in new costs in future state budgets.
The groups want lawmakers to approve roughly $70 million in funding the state needs to implement control measures, and cover the federal cut to administrative costs associated with changes to the state’s FoodShare program brought on by the Big Beautiful Bill.
“Because of President Trump’s so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ Wisconsin taxpayers will already be on the hook for over a quarter of a billion dollars in new costs in future budgets. And if we don’t get the resources we’ve been asking for in order to keep our FoodShare error rate low, Wisconsinites could have to pay hundreds of millions even more in penalty fees each year. That just cannot happen — it will cripple future state budgets,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
The Legislature has had a roughly $70 million ask in front of them since August of last year aimed at preventing Wisconsin taxpayers from having to pay penalty fees to the Trump administration. Evers is urging Republican lawmakers to approve the necessary investments and staffing resources the state needs to begin implementing components of the Big Beautiful Bill, as required by law.
