With the House of Representatives holding procedural votes on President Donald Trump's giant tax and immigration bill Wednesday, Congressional Democrats and food security nonprofits are calling attention to its potentially drastic changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that could cost millions of low-income families crucial food assistance in every state.

Democratic members took to the House floor Wednesday, after Tuesday night's nail-biter vote in the Senate, where Vice President JD Vance cast a tiebreaker vote, seeking to delay movement on the bill by offering an amendment "that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP."

Trump's fiscal bill would mark a massive overhaul of SNAP benefits, putting 40 million recipients -- including some of the nation's most vulnerable populations -- at greater risk of food insecurity.

What is SNAP and how does it provide assistance to food-insecure Americans?

The federally funded program, once known as food stamps, issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food. It is run by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which administers federal food assistance programs.

"SNAP helps low-income working people, senior citizens, the disabled and others feed their families," the USDA states on its website. "Eligibility and benefit levels are based on household size, income and other factors."

How Trump's megabill could impact SNAP, vulnerable Americans in need of food assistance

In its current form, the legislation would slash entitlement health programs including Medicaid and SNAP, which aims to help millions of lower-income Americans buy groceries every month, to pay for Trump's second-term agenda.

The bill would specifically force states to shoulder at least 5% of SNAP benefit costs starting in 2028. Currently, the program is 100% federally funded.

Additionally, the bill would tighten eligibility, raising the work requirement age from 54 to 64 and forcing parents with children older than 6 to meet the work requirements. Parents with dependent children at home are currently exempt from these requirements.

The SNAP cuts total an estimated $230 billion over 10 years. Republicans claim the cuts would target "waste, fraud, and abuse" in the entitlement programs and would save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. Democrats and food security advocates disagree.

Democratic governors urge Congress to reject SNAP cuts

In a letter on June 24, Democratic governors from 23 states urged congressional leaders to reject "any proposals that would put state SNAP programs at risk."

The governors said the proposed cuts in Trump's megabill would "effectively gut" the powerful hunger assistance tool utilized by more than 42 million food insecure Americans who are already facing rising grocery costs.

"Congress has proposed profoundly changing the relationship between the federal government and states -- by shifting unprecedented costs to states for the first time in the 50 years of SNAP's history," they wrote. "Under this plan, states will need to find millions or even billions of extra dollars in their budgets or be forced to leave the SNAP program entirely, potentially cutting off millions of Americans from this vital assistance."

"Congress is forcing states into an impossible ultimatum: either come up with new funding to backfill federal cuts or cut off families from essential food assistance," they continued. "The idea that states will be able to respond to these massive cuts by backfilling with state resources is unrealistic. If states cannot meet the full cost share, they will need to cut SNAP enrollment or end their program entirely."

They added, "Cuts to SNAP will mean that millions of Americans won't get the food they need for their families. And it will result in too many Americans forced to survive rather than thrive."

Advocates, nonprofit leaders react to SNAP cuts in Trump's megabill

The Food Research & Action Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research and advocacy organization, has urged the House to reject Trump's megabill, issuing a press release Tuesday that described the legislation's passage in the Senate as "devastating."

"In addition to extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and raising the federal debt ceiling by $5 trillion, the bill slashes billions of dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), imposes time limits, restricts program eligibility, and shifts unsustainable costs to the states," Crystal FitzSimons, president of FRAC, said in a statement. "The Senate bill takes away food assistance from millions of people in need and undermines the very promise of opportunity this country celebrates."

FitzSimons noted that the legislation could force states "with already overstretched budgets to make impossible trade-offs," including "reducing public services, raising taxes, or cutting SNAP access for some or all."

"Beginning in 2028, states will be required for the first time to cover a share of SNAP food benefits, in addition to shouldering increased administrative costs. This unprecedented cost-shift will require states to come up with millions of additional dollars to keep the program running," she said.

Child nutrition programs such as school meals and Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer, or Summer EBT -- which provides families with funding to pay for their children's lunches during the summer months -- could also potentially suffer at the hands of SNAP funding cuts, FitzSimons argued.

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, for example, recently vetoed a budget measure that would have given his state access to the federal Summer EBT Program for 2027, citing concerns over upcoming state obligations to cover SNAP costs.

Summer EBT requires states to share in the administrative costs to run the program, while food benefits for eligible recipients -- families received $120 per child -- are 100% funded by the federal government.

"The consequences are too serious to ignore," FitzSimons stated. "The House must reject this bill and instead protect SNAP and other programs that are critical to building a nation free from hunger."

City Harvest, New York's first and largest food rescue organization that provides free food for millions of food insecure residents, has also expressed concerns over the SNAP cuts.

"These cuts will have a devastating effect on New Yorkers and people across the country who are already struggling to put food on the table," City Harvest CEO Jilly Stephens said in a statement to ABC News. "These unprecedented cuts, which are now one step closer to becoming law, would take food away from children, seniors, and working New Yorkers at a time when visits to New York City soup kitchens and food pantries are already at a record high."

According to City Harvest, SNAP has helped "1.8 million New York City residents and millions more across the country afford the food they and their families need to thrive," Stephens said.

"For every meal that food banks provide, SNAP provides nine," she said. "SNAP not only reduces food insecurity, but also is a stimulant to the local economy."

She added that food pantries, local partners, and the charitable food system "cannot make up the gap in demand that these cuts would create."

Stephens also noted that the bill would also eliminate SNAP-Ed, a federally funded grant program that serves as the "primary funding source for City Harvest's Nutrition & Education programming," which she said "gives people the skills and knowledge to prepare nutritious, budget-conscious meals with the free produce we provide."

Chefs speak out

Chefs like critically acclaimed Philadelphia-based restaurateur and cookbook author Marc Vetri are also using their platform to educate followers on the potential long-term risks of the megabill's SNAP cuts.

Vetri took that message to Instagram this week, writing that cuts to SNAP and its education program funding "[are] going to hurt so many people struggling to eat."

"In our Snap program we collaborate with school leaders to reach wellness goals with evidence-based hands-on cooking classes, school garden curriculum and fruit and vegetable promotion," he stated, referencing the Vetri Community Partnership, which he founded with restaurateur Jeff Benjamin in 2008 to educate kids on healthy eating habits.

"This is the furthest thing from waste. Knowing how to cook is a skill that can literally change a persons life and give them a skill that can keep them and their family healthy and well fed by focusing on making healthy choices," he added, urging the need to "rewrite a bill that makes sense, instead of sweeping regulation that will hurt so many people who need it most."

The James Beard Foundation, a nonprofit culinary arts organization, has also lobbied against the bill's cuts to SNAP.

"SNAP is one of the most effective tools we have to fight hunger," the foundation said in a statement on May 13. "Cutting it would be devastating."

"Chefs know what hunger looks like," it continued. "They know the people who come through their doors and into their kitchens. And they know that when people can’t afford food, our whole food system suffers -- from the farmer to the line cook to the local restaurant."