Congressional Republican Shutdown Threatens Food Assistance for Arizonans

TUCSON — Congressman Juan Ciscomani is again targeting low-income Arizonans – this time by supporting a government shutdown instead of reopening the government to fund SNAP food assistance and make health care tax credits permanent.

Arizonans will stop receiving SNAP benefits that they rely on beginning on November 1.

Over 855,000 Arizonans depend on SNAP food assistance including 30,000 households in Congressman Ciscomani's district, but earlier this year, he voted to gut SNAP food assistance.

According to ABC15:

"That works out to about 1 in every 10 adults and 1 in every 4 kids. In some families, only children qualify for SNAP, also known as food stamps.

Several people who visited a DES office in Phoenix on Monday told ABC15 they hadn't heard SNAP benefits were on hold because of the shutdown.

'It was a shock to me,' one woman said. 'I was kind of really shocked. Nobody told me, nobody.'"

In general, rural Arizona families are more dependent on SNAP."

“Congressman Ciscomani chose to side with the ultra-wealthy over Arizonans, and his shutdown is making it even harder for Arizonans to afford health care and food assistance," said Andrea Moreno, Executive Director of Honest Arizona. “Ciscomani and his Republican colleagues must reopen the government, restore SNAP funding and make the health care tax credits permanent."

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