Theo Wells-Spackman is a Report for America corps member who reports for VTDigger.
Facing federal funding cuts and potentially faltering tax revenues ahead of this week’s legislative session, Vermont lawmakers say decisions over food and heating assistance programs serving their most vulnerable constituents will be particularly difficult.
“We’re coming back to the basic hierarchy of needs here,” said Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, who chairs the House Committee on Human Services.
Food aid is among her highest priorities, Wood said. But both 3SquaresVT, Vermont’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the state’s charitable food system have been significantly impacted by federal cuts in recent months.
In 2025, 3SquaresVT incorporated a host of tightened restrictions following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July. Work requirements have been expanded, a number of categories of noncitizens have been excluded from the program, and new financial burdens have been placed on individual states.
Vermont will be responsible for more than $8 million in new administrative costs, with millions more in possible penalties under a new accuracy enforcement system. Should the administration make errors according to the program’s rules just 1% more frequently than it did last year, the state could be required to contribute over $7 million to the cost of benefits next year.
Meanwhile, support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dried up for local food providers, causing layoffs and reductions in service across the state.
“The federal government’s lack of human compassion is just beyond belief,” said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, of the fallout from July’s federal funding law.
Lyons, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, agreed that nutrition assistance is an essential issue going into the session.
“We need to provide food — we need to ensure that SNAP continues,” she said.
The Vermont Foodbank has requested an allocation of $5 million from the Legislature to fund its farm-focused Vermonters Feeding Vermonters program and generally support its network of services.
“What we are seeing is this continued need for support beyond what philanthropy is able to do,” said Carrie Stahler, the Foodbank’s government and public affairs officer.
Stahler said 3SquaresVT has never been available to everyone in the state who needs help with food. But after thousands more Vermonters lost access to the program this fall or became subject to new requirements in order to be eligible, the nutrition assistance system is more important than ever.
Wood said she expects the Vermont Department for Children and Families, which administers 3SquaresVT, to include the program’s new state-level costs in its budget later this month. While she supports full funding for 3SquaresVT, the Foodbank’s request is one of a number of similar pleas to her committee.
“They’re not all going to be able to be met,” she said, adding that her committee is “going to be careful in doing our due diligence.”
Lyons expressed a desire to redirect or generate more funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program, or LIHEAP, which President Donald Trump’s administration has indicated it wants to eliminate. The state’s Public Utility Commission recommended that the Legislature increase funding for heating assistance in an energy cost study last month to shore up the state’s crisis fuel service, and to prepare for potential federal cuts to the program.
The commission suggested raising the existing fuel tax slightly to partially cover the measure, which Lyons said she supports. But Wood urged caution on increasing funds for programs like LIHEAP, saying that this year, there likely won’t be room in the budget.
“We have many things to balance,” she said. “We have to be strategic.”
Housing, a major priority for Wood’s committee, continues to demand attention and funding. In addition to ongoing disagreement over the state’s motel program, Vermont’s housing authorities requested $18 million this fall to fund the state’s Section 8 voucher program after federal cuts left a number of organizations across the state facing shortfalls.
And health care, particularly in a moment where Vermonters face skyrocketing premiums and an increasing state cost burden, will be near the top of Wood’s agenda too.
Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that last year’s buffer against federal cuts would potentially be a difficult model to replicate this year. One-time allocations in general, he said, could be in short supply, including to individual organizations like the Vermont Foodbank.
Tax revenue slumps in recent months are a concern for lawmakers, Perchlik said. Though nothing is set in stone, he continued, it seems unlikely that the Legislature will have the same scale of tax surplus to use at its discretion, particularly in light of Gov. Phil Scott’s desire to buy down property taxes.
“It’s not clear we’ll have any of that money,” Perchlik said. “It’s definitely going to be more difficult.”
