SNAP to it: Senator Mark Kelly tours Community Food Bank, criticizes Trump admin. approach on benefits

For Tucson residents who rely on food assistance, the debate over SNAP is not an abstract fight in Washington. It affects what families can afford at the grocery store, how long monthly benefits last and whether local food banks have enough supplies to meet rising demand. U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly brought that debate to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona on Tuesday, helping volunteers package food while criticizing the Trump administration’s handling of federal nutrition programs.

Kelly’s visit coincided with the beginning of Hunger Action Month, a period when the food bank asks Southern Arizonans to support hunger relief efforts. The organization distributes emergency food and senior food boxes from its Country Club Road campus in Tucson and serves residents across Pima, Cochise, Graham, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties. Its operation depends on roughly 160 employees and hundreds of volunteers, making community participation important as more households struggle with food costs and changes to benefit eligibility.

The campus includes the Gabrielle Giffords Resource Center, named for Kelly’s wife and former Arizona congresswoman. Kelly noted that Giffords had long supported the Tucson food bank. During the visit, he worked alongside volunteers to fill packages for people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, as well as people who have recently lost access to them. The food bank’s work has taken on added urgency as federal policy changes have reduced SNAP enrollment in Arizona and created uncertainty about future payments.

Kelly said congressional Republicans had placed greater emphasis on tax reductions for wealthy Americans than on maintaining SNAP. He cited an estimate that 167,000 children had lost their benefits, while other recent estimates put the number of Arizona children losing SNAP between August 2025 and February 2026 at more than 175,000. The decline followed changes in federal law and eligibility requirements. Kelly also connected food insecurity to higher prices, blaming tariffs supported by President Donald Trump for increasing the cost of consumer goods.

Norah Siller, a student and single mother who receives SNAP, described how those price increases affect her household. She said ground beef that once cost considerably less now can approach $7 per pound, making it harder to plan meals on a limited budget. Siller also said applying for benefits has become more difficult and that her monthly assistance does not cover as much food as it used to. Kelly’s willingness to ask questions and listen, she said, mattered because people dealing with hunger often want recognition of their experiences as much as they want political promises.

The concerns raised at the food bank became even more urgent during a later federal funding dispute. On Oct. 24, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that SNAP households would not receive their November benefits after the Trump administration declined to use about $6 billion in contingency funds. The potential interruption threatened assistance for about 41 million people nationally, including nearly 900,000 Arizonans. A normal month of SNAP benefits costs between $7 billion and $10 billion nationwide, while the administration argued that using the contingency money for regular payments would be illegal.

A federal judge in Rhode Island subsequently ordered the USDA to provide SNAP funding as soon as possible. The administration then said it would issue partial benefits, possibly only half of a household’s regular monthly amount, although officials said it remained uncertain when and how the money would reach recipients. Kelly and Sen. Ruben Gallego joined 44 other Senate Democrats in urging the USDA to release the contingency funds and proposed moving money from other nutrition programs to cover the November payments. Gallego also backed several bills intended to protect SNAP and WIC funding, including measures with bipartisan support. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined 21 other attorneys general and three governors in suing the USDA, arguing that suspending SNAP violated federal administrative law.

Arizona officials pursued additional responses as the cutoff approached. Gov. Katie Hobbs announced $1.5 million for state food banks and $300,000 for Food Bucks Now, a new emergency program offering SNAP households $30 vouchers for farmers markets and community grocery stores. Hobbs said the aid was necessary but far below the roughly $150 million in federal food assistance delivered to Arizona each month. While volunteering at St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, she argued that Trump could release the contingency funds without congressional action and accused him of using hunger as political leverage.

Tucson leaders also called for immediate action and encouraged residents to support local relief efforts. Mayor Regina Romero described the threatened cutoff as cruel and inhumane, emphasizing that SNAP supports children, seniors and families and should not be treated as a partisan program. Ward 2 Councilmember Paul Cunningham said his office would accept food donations through Nov. 7 for distribution to SNAP recipients on Nov. 8. District 7 Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring lawmakers back to Washington to reopen the government and protect food assistance. Locally, the Community Food Bank is asking people to take part in Hunger Action Month, including the annual HungerWalk scheduled for Sept. 12, as Tucson confronts the consequences of benefit reductions, rising grocery prices and continued uncertainty over federal support.