Article Confirms Threat of SNAP Cuts on New Mexico

Photo NM Voices for Children

We posted information from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) this week on how President Trump's budget proposal would gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We previously provided data from the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty on the impact that the cuts would specifically on New Mexico.  

The New Mexico Political Report, an online news site about political developments in our state, posted an article on Thursday quoting the director and deputy director of the New Mexico Voices for Children about this topic as well as a senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget Policy Priorities. In the interview, Director James Jimenez and Deputy Director Amber Wallin confirmed what the NMCLP and FRAC. (We are proud to count the NMCLP and NMVC among the endorsing organizations of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition).

 Here are three quotes from the article.

“We have one of the highest percentages in the nation of children who receive SNAP. But even given our high SNAP participation rates and the high coverage rate in New Mexico, we still have the second-highest rate in the nation of childhood food insecurity.” -Amber Wallin, Deputy Director, New Mexico Voices for Children

“This is in an environment where people are already going hungry. In a nation like ours where there’s so much wealth, it’s criminal that we have people going hungry,” James Jimenez, the executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said. “And we’re not willing to help people adequately feed themselves.” -James Jimenez, Director, New Mexico Voices for Children.

“When I look at the different provisions, I see proposals to force states to require people in high unemployment areas to find jobs, or cut them off after three months,” Bolen said. “That’s the provision that limits the waivers for childless adults who have a three month time limit with SNAP.” -Ed Bolen, senior policy analyst for the Center on Budget Policy Priority.

(The New Mexico Political Report notes that New Mexico, which has the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, has received a waiver for that problem).

Read full article by Matthew Reichbach of The New Mexico Political Report.

As we mentioned earlier, Congress will have the last word on reductions in these programs. But given that the House of Representatives is led by Speaker Paul Ryan, an advocate of major reductions in social spending, the programs that help low-income families in our country are going to undergo some sort of transformation, and not a a good transformation. They may not be as drastic as those proposed by the president, but cuts are coming (especially since Ryan's party holds a majority in the House).

The IHC recently worked on a bipartisan basis with Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes, Rep. Joanne Ferrary and Rep. Debbie Armstrong on a Memorial that would create a Hunger Council to discuss long-term solutions to persistent hunger in New Mexico. The impact of cuts in SNAP on families in our state is  going to have to be one of the topics that we address as we go forward.