State lawmakers are fighting back
In Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill, Congress cut funding and added new requirements for SNAP — the federal food assistance program that millions of Americans depend on to eat. The new work requirements alone are expected to cause 2.4 million people to lose food benefits in an average month.
Veterans who served our country. People struggling to afford housing. Young adults who recently aged out of foster care. Federal lawmakers decided these Americans should go without food.
In Arizona — where we’re working to build new majorities this November — more than 400,000 people, including 180,000 children, have already lost their food assistance, according to The New York Times’ podcast The Daily. That’s nearly half of all SNAP recipients in the state, the largest drop of any state in the country.
In Illinois, state lawmakers saw what was happening and moved.
They passed a $70 million emergency program putting $400 directly onto the food assistance cards of every household that lost SNAP benefits due to Congress’s cuts — starting August 1. The payments are automatic, without any additional red tape. The policy doesn’t reinstate their benefits, but it’s immediate relief while lawmakers work on a longer-term solution. This is what it looks like when state lawmakers prioritize the issues that most impact the people they serve.
Not every state is responding. In states where lawmakers won’t act — or don’t have the power to — families may have to decide between paying rent and utilities or feeding their children.
The States Project builds majority power for state lawmakers who will show up and govern to protect constituents. And in some states, a couple hundred votes is all it takes to build the power to make sure no one goes hungry.
