Among the spending reductions in the “big, beautiful bill” signed into law by President Donald Trump last week is $186 billion in cuts over the next decade to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or as you might know it, food stamps.

Reduced benefits from the federal government could mean more demand on community food banks, which are already feeling strained.

The St. Leo Food Connection is one of the few food banks in Tacoma, Washington, that allows the same patron to pick up food five days a week.

But director Dawn Whitman said they’re basically near capacity with the 300 or so families they serve everyday. If more people start showing up because their federal benefits are reduced, she may have to make some changes.

“Our first thing would be to probably cut back on that, ‘Oh you can come every day,’” she said. “And also we would look at maybe the number of hours that we’re open in a day.”

Whitman said they’ve already seen an uptick in clients since last year, as low-income residents struggle with still-elevated food costs.

Vince Hall, chief government relations officer at the national food bank network Feeding America, said despite a relatively good economy, inflation has left lower-income Americans with few options.

“This is the first time in the history of food banking that we have seen record high demand at food distributions and very low unemployment,” he said.

Hall said there’s just not a lot of resilience left in charitable food systems, and safety net cuts will only stress those systems more.