U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins defended the Trump administration’s cuts to federal food assistance at a Marana farm Thursday.
Arizona has seen the largest drop in SNAP participation, with nearly half a million fewer people enrolled compared to July, when Trump’s spending cuts passed.
Rollins claims there was fraudulent and unaccountable spending within the program.
"That’s not fair to the hardworking men and women standing behind me who pay taxes," Rollins said.
Jessie Gruner with Pinnacle Prevention, a nonprofit that addresses food insecurity, says people have been losing access to benefits, even when they’ve met new requirements.
"It’s really challenging. Especially someone that’s even in their 70s and 80s that wouldn't be subject to the new work requirements. And we still see some of those individuals falling off," Gruner said.
Arizona Gov. Hobbs recently vetoed a budget proposal from the Legislature that she said would have led to more people losing their SNAP benefits.
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Democratic Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva is proposing legislation to curb federal funding threats to the state’s food assistance program. -
The study says that increased the risk of catastrophic wildfires across the country. -
Amid public sector and SNAP cuts along with higher gas prices and lessening affordability here, The Show checked in with Carla Vargas Jasa, president and CEO of Valley of the Sun United Way. -
The declines were felt across the Mountain West. In Idaho, SNAP participation fell nearly 8%. Nevada saw a drop of more than 14%. In Arizona, participation fell by nearly 34%. New Mexico saw a decrease of about 6%, while Wyoming dropped by more than 11%. -
Arizona has now dropped more than 450,000 people from the SNAP program since federal changes went into effect last July. That includes 196,000 children no longer receiving benefits.
