Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Funding was restored as the government shutdown ended last month. Critical Food Assistance Program Which saves millions of families from hunger.
But the crisis has been going on for weeks now. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance ProgramWhich helps more than 40 million Americans pay for groceries, has only underlined the worsening rates of food insecurity across the United States.
new restrictions Those who qualify for SNAP are expected to replace millions of families deprived of these benefits in the coming years. And President Donald Trump is threatening to cut even more Americans off from the nation’s largest anti-hunger program if they live in Democratic-led states.
Hundreds of food pantries and soup kitchens — already weakened by the pandemic, rising food prices and rising costs of living — saw a surge in new customers. During shutdown. According to a recent report, the vast majority are struggling to get enough food to meet the growing demand survey From a hunger-free America.
Anti-hunger groups and food pantries have relied on volunteer help and donations to stay afloat, but seasonal donations and volunteerism are easily overtaken by growing and complex crises, which advocates are comparing to pandemic-level emergencies. “I don’t want to be the Grinch,” says Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America. “We’re challenged to welcome any help we can get.”
New Mexico has the highest SNAP enrollment rate in the country, with nearly half a million residents and their families relying on the program. The state spent $30 million to keep the program running during the shutdown — but that’s only a fraction of the nearly $1 billion a year needed to keep it fully funded for all recipients.
“We saw panic. People were absolutely terrified,” said Katie Anderson, vice president of strategy, partnerships and advocacy for the Roadrunner Food Bank of New Mexico. The group saw a 40 percent increase in the number of people seeking food assistance from October to November.
“People were still struggling and still worried and unclear about, ‘Is this the SNAP I’m going to get for the whole month? I don’t know how I’m going to support my family,'” she said. Independent. “We’re seeing people coming in who are at their limits.”
New Mexico is once again in Trump’s crosshairs: The administration has threatened to withhold SNAP funding from the state and others unless they provide detailed data on who is receiving benefits, including their immigration status.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins requested the data in February, and 22 Democratic-led states have objected, citing privacy concerns and fears that the administration is trolling for data merely to support the president’s vast anti-immigration agenda, which has affected nearly every federal agency.
The USDA’s demand for the data was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in October.
During a Cabinet meeting with administration officials on December 2, Rollins said that “We have begun and will begin to withhold transferring federal funds to those states until they comply and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud to protect the American taxpayer.”
The administration is also imposing new work requirements for SNAP beneficiaries that took effect in July with passage of Trump’s sweeping tax and domestic policy bill.
More recipients now have to work, go to school or volunteer for more than three months every three years to receive benefits. This includes adults ages 55 to 64, people experiencing homelessness, and people with children ages 14 to 17.
According to the Food Research and Action Center, a $187 billion cut in federal SNAP funding over the next decade “will result in more poverty and hunger”.
According to the independent Congressional Budget Office, nearly 4 million people — including children, older adults, veterans and people with disabilities — will experience cuts to their SNAP benefits or lose them altogether.
“States are not in the financial position to shoulder these new costs. They can’t afford it,” said Crystal Fitzsimmons, president of the Food Research and Action Center.
“States will be forced to drastically cut the number of eligible families receiving food assistance or find other ways to cut spending or raise taxes,” he said. “If states can’t pay the tab, they will be locked out of SNAP entirely, leading to the demise of SNAP for all eligible people.”
According to Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, combined with the growing affordability crisis and rising food prices, the largest SNAP cuts in the program’s history are likely to make food inequality “from bad to worse.”
“You’re really seeing things go from bad to worse, and the shutdowns have made it even worse,” he said. Independent.
After taking office, Trump ended the Agriculture Department’s 27-year practice of collecting and publishing nationwide and state-by-state statistics on how many households experienced food insecurity. That research was initiated in 1990 with bipartisan support in Congress, and signed into law by Republican President George H.W. Bush.
More than 80 percent of households earning $75,000 to $100,000 a year faced a higher cost of living in the past year, according to the latest report from Hunger Free America. Nearly two-thirds of those families said it was difficult to afford what they needed.
According to anti-hunger advocates, SNAP provides approximately nine meals for every meal provided by food pantries.
The Trump administration’s cuts in the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” would eliminate the equivalent of 6 to 9 billion meals annually, according to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, which operates more than 200 food banks and serves more than 46 million people.
By comparison, the entire Feeding America network is projected to distribute 6 billion meals in 2024, according to CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot.
Nearly every food pantry and community food bank surveyed by Hungry Free America reported an increase in services compared to the previous year.
Berg explained, “People in America have been led to think we’ll have some Frank Capra-esque happy ending that everyone will pass around the hat.” Independent“What actually happens is that low-income people suffer more and that’s what’s happening now, People are having to make even more of a choice between food and rent,”