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VINTON, La. — In House Speaker Mike Johnson’s backyard, many residents rely on anti-poverty programs to help make ends meet — and are pleading with Johnson, R-La., to protect those benefits as Congress weighs steep federal spending cuts.
Pastor Leroy McClelland, who lives in Johnson’s southwestern Louisiana district and volunteers at a local food bank, said he is dependent on Medicaid and food stamps after having suffered several medical issues and would be in a serious “bind” without government assistance. He added that he’s far from alone in those struggles.
“People can’t do without it,” McClelland told NBC News outside the food bank. “So I would tell them [Congress] to help us out. Help us. People are hurting out here. And you may be from Louisiana, but you’re the House speaker. Cross the aisle. Work together to do whatever you got to do. That’s my message.”
Summer Stinson, a mother of four who was picking up food for her family as well as an elderly woman who can’t drive, said the prospect of cuts to social safety net programs has been weighing heavily on her mind.
“My children are on Medicaid. So yes, I do. I do fear that very much, and they make it to where insurance isn’t really affordable with our companies,” said Stinson, a native of Vinton. “I don’t know what we would do without it.”
In Johnson’s rural Louisiana district, nearly 25% of adults under age 65 rely on Medicaid, according to an NBC News analysis, while nearly 20% of households receive food stamps. Politically, it’s a deep-red district that Johnson won with 85% of the vote in November. Louisiana was one of the states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and the program now covers 72 million people across the country.
Both anti-poverty programs could be on the chopping block as Republicans hunt for deep spending cuts that were outlined in a recent budget resolution the GOP-controlled House passed designed to unlock President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda. While the budget blueprint itself doesn’t spell out any policy changes, it does call for steep spending cuts from the committees that oversee Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.
Johnson and Trump have insisted that Medicaid benefits won’t be cut. The speaker’s office pointed NBC News to recent comments Johnson has made when he has been asked for comment. He has repeatedly said Republicans are only looking to root out waste, fraud and abuse, as well as making reforms to strengthen the programs.
“Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste and abuse,” Johnson told reporters at a recent weekly news conference. “Everybody is committed to preserving Medicaid benefits for those who desperately need it and deserve it and qualify for it. What we’re talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste and abuse.”
But there’s skepticism in Congress — and from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — that they can achieve those levels of savings without cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
A major Medicaid change Republicans are seriously considering is instituting work requirements for able-bodied adults. Yet here in Vinton — a small rural town with many low-income residents who are struggling with the cost of goods and groceries — people say there simply aren’t many job opportunities. Those who do have jobs say their hours have been cut. And there’s no reliable transportation to travel to jobs in neighboring towns.
One block in the downtown area is lined with several shuttered businesses.
“It’s a great community. It’s just, it’s low-income for the most part. And so what we do is we just try to help out by helping them with the extras that their food ain’t stretching all the way. … They really need it,” said Pastor Don Snider of Christian Life Church, who started the food bank 10 years ago. “There’s no transportation. And the problem with it is, in this community … there’s no industry here.”
Snider has expanded the operation over the years, and he said he now feeds roughly 350 families a week, or 7,000 people a month. He relies on a mix of donations and help from the U.S. Agriculture Department. But the volume of food can vary from month to month, meaning sometimes fewer people get fed or they are given less food.
As grocery prices have soared, the community has struggled, and more residents have come to rely on the food bank. Making matters worse, the area is also still recovering from natural disasters.
“They lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost their cars, lost everything, basically, and then this is what they depend on to eat. So I’m here every week,” said Angel Lejune, who picked up food for six other families and loaded her sedan to the brim. “Some people couldn’t survive or make it without these resources. … And medicine, let’s not talk about that.”
Cars were lined up around the block to collect baskets of produce, bread, meat and other donated goods. Some people traveled in cars and picked up food for multiple families who don’t have cars, while others traveled by bicycle or foot and piled food into wagons.
One of the residents who drove to the food bank Tuesday morning was Dwayne Dousay of Lake Charles. He is a retired environmental microbiologist and the primary caregiver for his adult-age disabled grandson, who receives Medicaid and other forms of government assistance from the state.
Dousay voted for Johnson and is widely supportive of the Trump administration’s push to rein in federal spending under the Department of Government Efficiency — but he also warned that taking a hatchet to social safety net programs would be devastating for his family and the community.
“I don’t know what we would do without them. I really don’t. It’s been tough,” Dousay said. “I appreciate what DOGE is doing, but I feel it’s Congress’ decision.”
Melanie Zanona is a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News.
Susan Kroll is an awarding winning producer of domestic and international stories for NBC News including Nightly News and “TODAY.” She has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Boston Marathon bombings and various political campaigns. Kroll has been honored with multiple Emmy, Murrow, National Headliner, NABJ awards.
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