For thousands of families across the Mahoning Valley, programs like Medicaid and SNAP are lifelines.

A proposal by U.S. House Republicans seeks to reduce federal spending on these programs by trillions of dollars over 10 years in order to pay for extending tax cuts first passed in 2017 during the president elect's first term.

John Woods, the owner of Insurance Navigation said this could lead to increased hardships for people covered by Medicaid.

"The people that Medicaid really serves, they're not the loudest voice. They are the people in need and they have less financial security. This could lead to more medical debt," Woods said.

According to Ohio Medicaid Dashboard, about 200,000 people in the Mahoning Valley are covered under Medicaid.

Republican lawmakers want to cut billions in Medicaid by reducing federal contributions and shifting that responsibility to the states.

Health care is not the only thing on the republican chopping block. They also want to save $300 billion by reducing SNAP benefits.

Executive Director of the Second Harvest Food Bank, Mike Iberis believes this could lead to more need in the community. 

"When they run out of money at the end of the month or at the end of the period then they will go to a pantry in many cases. So that could create a situation where more people are going to our pantries for food," Iberis said. 

More than 100,000 people in the Valley receive SNAP benefits.

"We have enough problems with food deserts as it is already, this is just compounding an already bad situation," Woods said