The Foodbank, Inc. in Dayton works with more than 110 local partners such as food pantries, community kitchens and shelters to get food where it is needed most. It and 11 other food banks linked to the Ohio Association of Foodbanks have been impacted by both state and federal budget and program cuts.
Food bank leaders also told this news outlet in recent weeks that they’re bracing for an uptick in demand amid changes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Federal policy impacts in southwest Ohio
• Tips and overtime: Employees who earn tips and overtime in 2025 may be eligible for a tax break when they file their federal taxes next year under the recent federal spending budget passed. The federal spending bill includes a provision, effective through 2028, which allows employees in qualifying occupations to deduct tips up to a maximum annual deduction of $25,000. Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce leaders say local businesses haven’t received federal guidance on these new provisions, but they’re hopeful it won’t add administrative work to business owners’ plates.
• Planned Parenthood: A federal judge expanded a judicial block on the Trump administration’s budget bill ban that would eliminate funding from Planned Parenthood, but that won’t impact the impending closures in Hamilton and Springfield. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” restricts Medicaid funding, including a one-year ban on Medicaid funds going to organizations that provide abortion services and received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023. No abortion care is performed at the Hamilton and Springfield locations, which will close on Aug. 1.
• Medicaid changes: Healthcare providers with no ties to Planned Parenthood, too, are concerned that changes to Medicaid could lead to worse health outcomes. More than one in four Ohioans receive Medicaid, including more than a third of Clark County’s population.
• Dayton man charged: A Dayton man reportedly threatened to kill a U.S. Congressman if he voted to cut Medicaid. The man was arrested in connection to making interstate communications with a threat to injure, according to federal court records. In June, he left a voicemail with a U.S. House of Representatives member, saying “if you (expletive) with my Medicaid you’re a dead (expletive).”
• ICE and the workplace: Congress approving a hike to ICE’s budget — $29.9 billion toward ICE’s enforcement and deportation operations and $45 billion for building new immigration detention centers — may lead to increased local workplace visits. Immigration agents may come to a private workplace for a few reasons: raids, detainment of specific people or Form 1-9 audits. Immigration law advocates are telling area workplaces to make a plan with a lawyer now to prepare for the possibility of visits from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Other federal updates:
• Four-star generals: President Donald Trump now meets with candidates for promotion to the rank of four-star general. Trump has the meetings because he wants to make sure the U.S. military retains its superiority and its leaders focus on fighting wars, a White House spokesperson told national news outlets.
• Epstein: Trump said that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago. One of the women, he acknowledged, was Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers. Trump has faced an outcry over his administration’s refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency.
The Associated Press contributed to the report.
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