When Darline Graham attacked her primary opponent for not voting sooner to pass the “Big Beautiful Bill,” she made plain her lack of respect and support for South Carolina communities. Graham supported the passage of a bill that has already yanked away food assistance from nearly 100,000 vulnerable South Carolinians, pushed several rural hospitals to their breaking point, and endangered health coverage for nearly 60,000 Medicaid recipients. Even after a year of the Big Beautiful Bill wreaking havoc on South Carolina, Darline Graham thinks it wasn’t passed soon enough.
Graham Attacked Her Primary Opponent For Holding Out On Passing The OBBB. According to WCSC, “Graham accused Norman of delaying passage of President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ last year, arguing he had to be persuaded by Trump to support the measure. ‘It’s my understanding that you were the holdout on the big beautiful bill and Trump had to call you in and convince you to sign it,’ Graham said. Norman defended his actions, saying his concerns centered on energy subsidies.” [WCSC, 8/18/26]
2025: Over Half A Million South Carolinians Relied On SNAP Benefits, With Nearly 50 Percent Of The Recipients Being Children. According to a press release from the South Carolina Department of Social Services, “New federal work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have taken effect under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, by President Donald Trump. More than 520,000 South Carolinians received SNAP benefits during the month of December 2025. About 48% of recipients are under age 18, while nearly 25% are over age 50. Under the new rules, able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) aged 18–64 must work or participate in work programs for at least 80 hours per month (about 20 hours weekly) to retain SNAP eligibility beyond three months in a 36-month period. Previously, the upper age limit was 54; it is now 64.” [Press Release – South Carolina Department of Social Services, 2/2/26]
Between July 2025 And August 2026, 91,950 South Carolinians Lost Their SNAP Benefits. [South Carolina Department of Social Services, 8/4/25; 8/31/26]
South Carolina Was Slated To Lose As Much As $5 Billion In Medicaid Spending Over 10 Years. According to South Carolina Public Radio, “At the provider level, however, small – especially rural – hospitals are more concerned. ‘In January of 2028,’ said Allendale County Hospital CEO Lari Gooding, ‘state-directed payments are going to start getting cut, which means that Medicaid reimbursement is going to get cut.’ State-directed payments are funds from the federal government to state governments, which have then used the money through the State-Directed Payment Program to reimburse hospitals for Medicaid clients whose payments fall short of the full cost of care. Starting in 2028, funds to the program will be cut 10% per year for 10 years. Nationwide, that spells a potential reduction of $793 billion in Medicaid spending by 2038, according to KFF – which also calculated that South Carolina could lose as much as $5 billion and have as many as 60,000 fewer Medicaid enrollees over that time.” [South Carolina Public Radio, 7/31/25]
Up To 60,000 South Carolinians Were At Risk Of Losing Their Medicaid Coverage. According to South Carolina Public Radio, “Starting in 2028, funds to the program will be cut 10% per year for 10 years. Nationwide, that spells a potential reduction of $793 billion in Medicaid spending by 2038, according to KFF – which also calculated that South Carolina could lose as much as $5 billion and have as many as 60,000 fewer Medicaid enrollees over that time.” [South Carolina Public Radio, 7/31/25]
The OBBB Pushed Rural South Carolina Hospitals To The Brink Of Closure. According to South Carolina Public Radio, “‘Since our state used the provider tax and state-directed program approach to support Medicaid, the hospitals have been, across the state, financially viable,’ said Thornton Kirby, CEO of the South Carolina Hospital Association. ‘Now that that has been threatened, [hospitals] are moving back into the survival mindset – “Uh-oh, what do I need to do to make sure I … avoid laying off staff and narrowing our service offerings?”’ These are the questions Gooding is asking at Allendale County Hospital – one of the few independent hospitals still left in South Carolina, and one of the least financially flush. ‘Small, rural hospitals operate on very thin margins anyway,’ Gooding said. Allendale’s profit margins are near zero. ‘And so now to say that the cost [of care] is going to continue to go up but now reimbursement's going to go in the opposite direction, there’s just no way to sustain a hospital like that.’ Allendale Hospital operates in one of the state’s smallest, poorest counties, where three in four hospital patients are either self-pay or covered by Medicaid, Gooding said. Mostly, it operates as an emergency room, but does no surgeries, maternity, or advanced care. […] While Kirby says it’s too early to predict hospital closures, he does worry that small, rural hospitals, affiliated or not, will have to make some tough choices in the decade ahead.” [South Carolina Public Radio, 7/31/25]
Seven South Carolina Hospitals Were At Risk Of Shutting Down Thanks To OBBB Cuts. According to The Island Packet, “Recent changes to health care and Medicaid policy under President Donald Trump’s administration, particularly through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, have introduced challenges for rural hospitals. […] Seven hospitals are at risk of closure, accounting for 29% of hospitals across the state, according to a report conducted by the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a national policy center that facilitates improvements in health care payment and delivery systems. Of those seven, five have been identified at a heightened risk of immediate closure, according to a study by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina.” [Island Packet, 11/18/25]
Healthcare Leaders Agreed That The OBBB’s Rural Health Transformation Program Was Insufficient To Offset The Medicaid Cuts. According to South Carolina Public Radio, “Maya Pack, executive director of the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health, says that while it’s too early to know what the effects of OBBB will really be on rural hospitals, she’s had conversations with healthcare leaders in the state who say they’re dubious that the Rural Health Transformation Program investment can really fill the gaps federal cuts will bring. ‘Most folks looking at it think that those funds in the rural fund are not going to be adequate enough to offset the cuts,’ Pack said.” [South Carolina Public Radio, 7/31/25]