ICYMI: Half of Arizona SNAP recipients lose food aid

TUCSON —  Nearly half of Arizona's SNAP recipients, including more than 170,000 children, have lost their benefits in the last year since the Republican Tax Law was passed in July 2025. Congressman Juan Ciscomani voted to pass the law.  As a result of the legislation, hundreds of thousands of Arizonans and their families no longer have food assistance and will now have to figure out how to cover the growing cost of grocery bills. .

According to Public News Service:

The Arizona Department of Economic Security reported half of people receiving SNAP benefits have lost assistance since the Trump administration changed eligibility rules in the 2025 budget bill.

While supporters of the changes said they are trying to root out waste and fraud, children who need food and nutrition help are on the losing end. Nearly 11,000 people lost SNAP benefits between July and August of this year, according to state numbers, 60% of them children

Kelly McGowan, executive director of the advocacy group Wildfire, said Arizona saw one of the fastest rates and highest numbers of recipients lose assistance through a combination of the federal budget bill and bureaucratic confusion at the state level, leaving people facing food insecurity, high gas and energy costs and inflation all at the same time.

‘Food is one of the first things that you prioritize and so when you lose your SNAP benefits, inability to kind of buy groceries, it just has rippling consequences,’ McGowan explained. ‘They're all so interconnected to each other, these things for low-income households.’”

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