BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Anti-Hunger Coalition is voicing its concerns and public opposition to potential large cuts to SNAP benefits in the "One Big Beautiful Bill."

The coalition, led by Feeding Louisiana and comprising various food banks and health departments across the state, held a large virtual meeting on Wednesday morning to encourage others in Louisiana to contact Senators Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy to oppose the bill.

The bill proposes making several significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously referred to as food stamps. One of these includes proposed cuts of nearly $300 billion to SNAP over the next decade.

Currently, if a person is between 18 and 54 years old and doesn't have children under 18, they must work, volunteer, or train for 80 hours per month to receive SNAP benefits. The bill would expand it from 54 to 64 and lower child exemption to only those with children under 10.

It would also shift responsibility for a portion of SNAP's funding to the state.

"The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities estimates that the current snap provisions in the House version of this bill, will result in 178,000 Louisiana residents living in households with adults, school-aged children, and without disability will lose some or all of their snap benefits," New Orleans Health Department Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno said.

Conrad Cable, the owner of Current Farms in Marion, Louisiana, says it's important for small farms to participate in programs like SNAP.

"Small to medium size farms grossing less than $400,000 per year, we don't qualify for a lot of the subsidies that commercial farmers qualify for, and so this is an incredible subsidy for the federal government," Cable said.

WBRZ asked what the coalition would say to the average family who isn't receiving SNAP benefits to make them interested in this.

"If we have cuts on SNAP, we will see an impact on employment in communities and the way grocery stores and smaller grocery stores will be able to serve their communities. If SNAP is cut, we will see rural communities being hurt by this, because some of their biggest employers are the grocery stores and convenience stores around them," Feeding Louisiana Executive Director Pat Van Burkleo said.

Meanwhile, Louisiana has made some of its own changes to SNAP.

"For the first time, we are removing Medicaid and SNAP Benefit enrollees who reside in other states, but yet are collecting our benefits," Governor Jeff Landry said Wednesday. "In July, we're going to implement a similar measure for both the SNAP benefits and Medicaid that quickly removes the deceased individuals from Medicaid and Snap roles to prevent posthumous allocations," he added.

On Wednesday, Landry also signed a bill moving the SNAP program from the Department of Children and Family Services to the Louisiana Department of Health.

President Donald Trump has said he hopes the Senate will pass the bill quickly to have it on his desk for signature by July 4.