Rep. Stansbury visits Roadrunner Food Bank, warns of rising child hunger

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat from New Mexico, toured Roadrunner Food Bank on Monday, warning that federal cuts have stripped food assistance from more than 21,000 New Mexicans, about half of them children, since October.

Stansbury said the drop stems from H.R. 1, the federal budget bill she called the “big ugly bill,” which she said Republicans and President Trump pushed through last year. “Over 10,000 New Mexican children have actually lost food assistance because of the big ugly bill,” Stansbury said, standing beside a chart showing SNAP enrollment falling sharply starting in October.

Jason Riggs, director of advocacy at Roadrunner Food Bank, said the numbers track with what the food bank is seeing on the ground. “There’s currently about 10,500 children that are no longer in households that use snap,” Riggs said, adding that SNAP normally provides nine times more meals statewide than the entire charitable food bank network combined. Rising fuel costs – Riggs said the food bank’s trucks log roughly 400,000 miles a year delivering to more than 400 partner agencies statewide – have compounded the strain.

Both Stansbury and Riggs pointed to state funding, including New Mexico’s “growth” program, as having helped stabilize food banks so far. Stansbury said she’s calling on state lawmakers to renew and expand that support when the Legislature convenes in January, and on residents to donate food, time or money in the meantime.

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