MAZON in the News

This piece was originally posted on Ms. Magazine on May 22 ,2026
By Abby J. Leibman

We are on the precipice of a hunger catastrophe in America, forged by morally bankrupt Republicans who privileged billionaires over our nation’s most vulnerable. It’s going to result in millions of children, single mothers and families losing access to food benefits with few alternatives.

And you might not even know about it, as much of this crisis has unfolded outside national headlines.

Last summer, the Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill directed the most devastating attacks on Americans’ basic needs programs in generations. The Republican budget cuts targeted a dizzying number of social safety net programs from a wide range of critical areas. Federal assistance programs like healthcare and hunger were slashed to the bone.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) saw cuts of hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade—by far the largest in the program’s history. We knew at the time just how catastrophic this would be. In these very pages, I warned that these cuts were cruel, painful and deliberate.

The very goal of Republican leadership, like U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins, was to drive as many people as possible off SNAP so that the government no longer had to worry about pesky little problems like “caring for the hungry” or “ensuring every American’s basic needs were met.” And if that was the goal, then I suppose you have to give them credit—that’s exactly what Rollins and the Trump administration have done.

More than 4 million Americans have had their SNAP benefits ripped away from them in the past year—a fact Rollins then lied was the result of people “climbing the ladder of financial freedom,” while ignoring the truth that not only had their financial circumstances not improved, but that now she had made certain they no longer had access to food.

Of course, the actual numbers may be even higher—something we can no longer determine, since USDA unceremoniously cancelled its annual household food security survey after nearly 30 years, leaving us all in the dark about just how many people live in hunger in our country. (Data for thee and not for me, I suppose.)

… The White House has now introduced their proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget … it’s truly stunning to see them actively working to make things worse.

Now, almost a year after the changes went into effect, the worst case scenarios for anti-hunger programs (that some of us predicted) are coming to pass. Because of the impossible financial burden that Republicans laid at the feet of the states, forcing them to pay for a federal program that they had never before been responsible for, some of them are considering ending their participation in SNAP completely.

In a flash, millions of innocent people could have their benefits ripped away from them based on nothing other than where they live.

Just in case you thought all this wasn’t quite bad enough, Republicans are actively preparing to do it all over again.

Even More Dangerous Cuts to Food Assistance

Even as we continue to pick through the wreckage of last year’s budget, the White House has now introduced their proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget. And while it’s not as if I expected Republicans to reverse the damages, it’s truly stunning to see them actively working to make things worse.

Even as Rollins and USDA tie themselves closer and closer to the often hypocritical “Make America Healthy Again” movement and further restrict the types of food available through SNAP, this budget would also have deep cuts to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), such as limiting access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

And just in case that wasn’t enough, the administration decided SNAP still just needed a little more taken off the top, with another $6 billion being cut from the program’s budget. Because after all, with so many wars to feed abroad, how could we possibly feed our infants, children and families at home?

All this comes against the backdrop of what used to be one of the more bipartisan congressional efforts in the farm bill. Once upon a time, this legislation was a true example of partnership, with members of both sides of the aisle coming together to serve the needs of America’s growers and consumers alike.

But now, the bill is just one more victim of the MAGA virus, falling prey to the Republican Party’s incessant need to cut basic needs programs to the bone. Any hopes that the farm bill might attempt to alleviate the damage done to our nation’s food assistance programs were sadly misguided.

The House-passed bill completely fails to address last year’s catastrophic cuts to SNAP or lend a desperately needed hand to the states and counties struggling to implement the changes while also figuring out how to cover federal costs for SNAP and other basic needs programs.

Real negotiation of a farm bill would have been a meaningful opportunity to offer support to those forced into need by last year’s odious actions and Republicans once again chose instead to spit in their faces.

This Is Everyone’s Crisis

None of these actions come in isolation: You cannot decouple the latest White House budget and the farm bill from what we saw last year with the Republican megabill.

We have seen a systemic, dedicated attack on those in America who are struggling and the systems that support them, from the day Donald Trump stepped back into the White House. His administration has illegally demanded the personal information of millions of SNAP recipients nationwide and wrongfully refused to issue SNAP benefits during last November’s federal shutdown. And once again, they are continuing to slash benefits to the point where we are left to question whether these critical programs can survive.

I cannot be clearer or more direct on this point: This is about to be your crisis.

In states like Arizona, we are seeing budgets buckle and fall under the weight that the federal government has thrust upon them. With no options but to either find the money, limit the program further, or potentially opt out of SNAP altogether, they are being forced into devastating decision—and your state could be next.

That is why there is absolutely no possibility that we would ever support the House-passed farm bill—let alone this atrocious budget—unless it fixes this mess. There can be no waffling and no softening on this critical issue unless Republicans grow up and put out this fire of their own making.

We Cannot Back Down

In a political climate where USDA leadership has increasingly embraced religious conservatism, and Republican lawmakers continue to shield Donald Trump from accountability, we cannot afford to back down from this fight.

If we don’t call out these abhorrent actions and plan our counter-approach, we are all facing disaster. We will not be silenced, nor will we be ignored. All Americans must raise our voices and stand together in opposition to the despotism of this Congress. When we do, they must back down. If they do not, then we know the American people will hold them accountable for turning their backs on us and our values.

This past year has been one of the darkest in recent memory for those struggling with hunger in our country, and I fear that the worst is still to come. We cannot stand down on this issue, and we cannot let it fall by the wayside.

Far too many innocent people depend on us.