Anti-Hunger Advocates Alarmed by Confirmation of Brooke Rollins to USDA
Today, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Brooke Rollins as the 33rd Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), entrusting her with the responsibility of supporting the 47 million Americans currently facing hunger. MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the leading national organization advocating to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds, reacted with alarm and noted Rollins’s repeated commitment to be a rubber stamp for the Trump agenda, including refusing to protect programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from dangerous changes and cuts.
Abby J. Leibman, President & CEO at MAZON, stated,
“At a time when Congress is already advancing legislation to rob everyday Americans to pad the pockets of the rich, we now have an Agriculture Secretary who has repeatedly refused to commit to protecting our federal nutrition safety net. Rollins made clear during her confirmation hearing that she will implement President Trump’s backwards agenda, and we can already see how his cruel scheme to bankroll billionaire donors at the expense of hungry families is causing real harm to our communities. It means this administration will take food from children in low-income families. It means they will impose harsher time limits on people trying to access the support they need and deserve. It means they will alter the structure of programs like SNAP to better suit their political whims.
“It is clear that President Trump and his cronies are seeking to slash social safety net programs as much as possible, with no thought about the ramifications of those arbitrary cuts, including the pain it will inflict on American communities and our economy. We need a Secretary of Agriculture who understands the vital importance of anti-hunger programs like SNAP, WIC, and school meals, not to mention lesser-known programs like the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), which helps us fulfill our federal trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations.
“We are alarmed by what has transpired in the first weeks of the Trump Administration, and we are on high alert. MAZON and our partners will continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight for what we know is right, because nobody — regardless of circumstance — deserves the pain and indignity of hunger.”