President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that passed in the House last week may financially stress tens of thousands of people in western North Carolina — many struggling in Tropical Storm Helene’s aftermath — who depend on federal help for medical care, nursing homes, children’s health coverage and monthly meals, according to analyses by several nonpartisan organizations. 

The 1,116-page bill, which was crafted to satisfy the president’s tax and spending programs, passed the House by a 215-214 virtual party-line vote that saw two Republican defectors and included crucial support from Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Henderson County Republican whose district comprises Buncombe and 16 counties in the Carolina mountains. 

Edwards justified his support to Asheville Watchdog by citing the need to extend tax breaks included in the bill that are set to expire at year’s end. 

“[W]ithout this bill, families in North Carolina would have faced a 22 percent tax hike,” Edwards stated in a text, without providing any backing for his claim. By making permanent the existing tax structure “combined with the new termination of tax on tips and overtime, [the bill] will ensure that the folks of Western North Carolina can thrive for years to come.” 

But that claim, which tracks the Trump White House’s talking points, fails to acknowledge that most of that tax break would benefit the wealthiest income earners. And it ignores the devastating impact the bill’s spending cuts may have on the region’s lower-income residents, especially those struggling with increasing food costs, health challenges and losses caused by Helene.

The steep cuts to government aid programs and services, along with expected higher prices and inflation as a result of Trump’s tariffs on imports, will hit residents of Edwards’s 11th Congressional District — who are poorer, older, and sicker than most districts in the country — harder than most places in the country, independent analysts say. 

Those residents could include as many as 195,415 people in Edwards’s district who depend on Medicaid for health care, and 90,000 families who benefit from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps. An additional 30,000 people may lose health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, according to a recent study by the nonpartisan KFF foundation.

“This isn’t the time to be cutting SNAP, Medicaid and other programs from families that are already struggling and are still suffering from the trauma and loss of Hurricane Helene,” Micah Chrisman, spokesman for MANNA FoodBank, the largest food bank serving Edwards’s congressional district.

Impact on MANNA FoodBank

Chrisman said the food bank depends heavily on SNAP to regularly serve 90,000 families, which includes adults, seniors and children.

“The loss would be about $70 each month for every one of those 90,000 families, the equivalent of three bags of groceries,” he told The Watchdog. “We’re saying, don’t make our people in our communities choose between rebuilding [from Helene] and feeding their families.”

The officially named “One Big Beautiful Bill” sets tax and spending priorities for years to come that align with President Trump’s campaign promises. It includes major increases in funding for the Pentagon, the ship-building industry, to locate and deport undocumented immigrants, and to complete his long-promised southern border wall.

At the heart of the bill is Trump’s promise to permanently extend tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest people that would otherwise expire at the end of the year without new legislation. To partially pay for the new spending and to extend these tax breaks, lawmakers slashed proposed spending on Medicare (health care for the elderly), Medicaid (health care for the poor), SNAP, the Affordable Care Act (medical insurance for poor and middle-class Americans) and other programs that make up the federal social-safety net. 

In many cases, the bill passes the costs to state governments, though many states – including North Carolina – are largely unable or unwilling to shoulder the federal share and will terminate the programs. The state’s Medicaid expansion in late 2023 included a “trigger law,” which stipulates that if federal support drops below 90 percent of the cost, the program could be terminated.

The Trump Administration argues that the projected $3.8 trillion to $5 trillion increase in the national debt as a direct result of this bill will be more than offset by revenue from Trump’s global tariffs and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts to eliminate fraud and waste in government spending. 

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned House members before the vote that the bill would hurt the nation’s poorest 10 percent through lost federal benefits while enriching the nation’s highest 10 percent through the tax breaks. The latter includes the president, a self-proclaimed billionaire, and Edwards, whose net worth has been placed at $16.6 million primarily through his ownership of several McDonald’s franchises in Henderson, Transylvania and Haywood counties.

The top 1 percent of households, those making more than $5 million a year, would receive a 3.3 percent tax cut on average, or about $300,000 on average. Middle-income households would see only a 2.4 percent cut in their taxes, or about $1,800 on average, according to an analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Because western North Carolina residents are among the country’s lowest-earners, the region will be disproportionately harmed by the cuts or loss of these programs. 

The median household income in Edwards’s 11th congressional district is $51,884 per year, according to a recent congressional survey. That’s far below the national median of $70,784 and puts the district in the bottom 15 percent of the nation’s 435 congressional districts. And that survey was taken before Helene delivered an economic gut punch to the region.

The impact of Helene on MANNA makes clear that western North Carolina continues to struggle toward recovery. Chrisman said the food bank set an all-time record for food distribution in April by providing 1.6 million meals to 189,000 people in its 16 counties. If the bill becomes law, he said, MANNA estimates the need will be doubled.

“MANNA would have to distribute 3 million meals a month,” Chrisman said, which he noted isn’t possible with current resources.

Families in need of food aren’t alone in being hurt by the bill. An economic analysis of SNAP’s impact found that every dollar spent for groceries generates $1.50 to $1.80 in business benefit, Chrisman said. The converse is also true.

“This essentially affects virtually every grocery store in western North Carolina,” Chrisman said. “That’s about $280 million in total.” 

People with health challenges would be doubly harmed, he continued.  Surveys taken by the state find that each food-bank customer saves the state about $1,020 in medical spending because better nutrition contributes to better health.

Local farmers are also affected by the Trump administration’s cuts to food-nutrition spending. MANNA, through a now-terminated program called Local Food Purchase Assistance, buys such local farm products as meats, cheeses, eggs and vegetables. These are distributed to families, schools and charitable organizations.

State Rep. Eric Ager, whose family’s Hickory Nut Gap Farm has operated for generations in Fairview, said the elimination of this and similar programs previously supported by SNAP and Medicaid funds “is going to be a real disaster for farmers and especially in western North Carolina.”  

Because of the mountainous terrain these farms tend to be small and specialize in selling fresh foods to schools, restaurants, local markets and nonprofits serving people in need, said Ager, a Democrat. For these farmers, the federal cuts “may be the last straw,” he said. 

Chrisman sees a paradox in Edwards’s support for the Trump package. 

“It’s our legislators who are supposed to be looking at how they’re supporting the people who can vote for them,” Chrisman said. “And in many cases, they’re not. They’re not making decisions in the best interests of families in our economic situation.”

The bill is now headed to the Senate, where it is likely to face several revisions. 

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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Tom Fiedler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter and dean emeritus from Boston University who lives in Asheville. Email him at tfiedler@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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