Community agencies and nonprofits who work in food assistance met with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in Rochester Tuesday to discuss how federal restrictions to aid, and rising costs, are making it harder to get people the food they need.
Last summer, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill significantly restricted SNAP, which stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and is commonly referred to as food stamps. SNAP provides money for people with food insecurity to spend on groceries.
The restrictions barred most legal immigrants from accessing benefits, implemented more stringent work requirements and made states take on an increased share of future costs.
The administration argues SNAP needed reform, while critics, like Shaheen, called the changes an intentional effort to gut the program.
“This was done as a deliberate design to try and reduce the number of people who are getting food assistance,” Shahee said. “And that’s part of the problem because people are dealing with the increased costs of everything from energy to groceries to rent and we should be doing everything possible to ensure that people have enough to eat in America.”
Shaheen, a Democrat who is not running for reelection this fall, is advocating for a two-year delay that would put off federal rule changes that would require New Hampshire to pay a larger share of food assistance costs starting in October of this year.
Betsey Andrews Parker, the chief executive officer of the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, said the reductions come as more people need help. She said it’s increasingly difficult to procure food for clients.
“I think one of the big issues we have is overhead,” she said. “I mean, I know everyone wants to help give right directly, but there’s a cost associated with this food, fuel, electricity for all those big refrigerators that we have.”
Representatives from local nonprofits said many residents are also straining under the increased costs, and having to make difficult choices between different necessities.
