Following the release of another cruel budget request from the White House, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins testified today about her agency’s proposal before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture. Leaders from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger spoke out against the cuts and sharply criticized Sec. Rollins’s ongoing failure to safeguard families and farmers in need of support, noting that the sorely lacking budget would worsen food insecurity both at home and abroad.
MAZON President & CEO Abby J. Leibman stated:
“Since day one of the Trump presidency, we have seen nonstop attacks and antipathy towards poor and low-income Americans. The President’s newest budget proposal is no different. This list of inexplicable program cuts may go too far even for Republicans in Congress, with further reductions in funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), child nutrition programs, and more. Indeed, the President and his cronies are so desperate to feed their numerous wars abroad, that they are failing to feed infants and children at home.
“Anyone hoping that Secretary Rollins — the person charged with leading and implementing these life-saving programs — would step up and do her duty should be sorely disappointed. During today’s testimony, she failed to mention a single nutrition program in her opening remarks. Her responses to questions about cuts to SNAP, WIC, and other programs were tepid at best and offensive at worst, and she showed neither care nor understanding for the harsh reality facing millions of Americans.
“Whatever the coming budget negotiations in Congress bring, we stand ready to advocate for all those living with hunger so that they get a fair chance at meeting their basic needs. We’re certainly well-trained for this fight by now.”
Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have:
- Imposed dangerous changes to SNAP and slashed hundreds of billions of dollars from critical food security programs, the largest such cuts in history;
- Illegally demanded the personal information of millions of SNAP recipients nationwide, later threatening to withhold food assistance funding from states who have not complied with the legally dubious order;
- Ended the USDA annual Household Food Security reports, which have accurately measured and reported on hunger in America for nearly 30 years;
- Illegally refused to issue SNAP benefits during the November 2025 federal shutdown, weaponizing the program and repeatedly going to court to avoid issuing providing for recipients;
- Advanced a highly partisan Farm Bill that fails to address hunger in any meaningful fashion.
In March 2026, MAZON delivered 47,000 postcards from Americans across the country to Sec. Rollins, the culmination of a year-long campaign to elevate the voices of individuals and communities concerned about America’s hunger crisis. With each postcard representing 1,000 food insecure individuals in the U.S., the campaign created a broad coalition of communities standing together in the face of unprecedented attacks on critical basic needs programs. More information on the “No One Deserves to Go Hungry” campaign, along with examples of postcards sent to the Secretary, can be found at mazon.org/postcards.