One Year Later, Arizona Is the Epicenter of SNAP Crisis Caused by Republican Tax Law

TUCSON — A nationwide crisis is underway as millions of Americans are losing access to SNAP benefits as a result of the year-old Republican Tax Law, and Arizona is at the epicenter.

Congressmen David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani both voted for the Republican Tax Law that is stripping millions of needed benefits while giving lavish tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations.

According to Reuters:

“Nowhere have the changes to America’s second-largest social safety-net program taken hold as rapidly as in Arizona, where the number of SNAP recipients has fallen by about half, the steepest drop in the country.

That means lost benefits for more than 457,000 Arizonans, including nearly 196,000 children, according to DES data as of the end of May.

The SNAP cuts have driven a record number of people to food banks in Arizona, according to the Arizona Food Bank Network, a statewide organization that works with local pantries.

About 843,000 Arizonans sought support from a food pantry in April, about an 8% increase over 779,000 in April 2025 — and surpassing the number of people receiving SNAP, according to AFBN data. Food bank users fell in May to about 790,000, the data show.

Even so, food pantries are scrambling to fill "a massive gap," said Terri Shoemaker, executive vice president of the AFBN.”

“The Republican Tax Law is working exactly as designed – more so even – and as a result, Arizonans are suffering,” said Andrea Moreno, Executive Director of Honest Arizona. “Congressmen Juan Ciscomani, David Schweikert, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Abe Hamadeh and Eli Crane are all responsible for their own constituents going hungry, and they did it to gift tax breaks to the wealthiest of the wealthy.”

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