VIDEO: Rep. Stansbury Fights for New Mexicans, Food Assistance Programs

ALBUQUERQUE — Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) kept fighting on Friday against President Trump and Elon Musk’s unlawful and harmful systematic dismantling of critical federal government food assistance programs during a press conference at the Roadrunner Food Bank.    

Watch the video here.   

“Hunger is a policy choice,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01). “There is no reason why any family, any child, any senior, any veteran in the United States should be hungry. There is plenty of food in this country. We are a wealthy country with a multitude of agriculture and food, and we have the ability to take care of our people. The decision to cut vital life-saving programs is a decision to let people go hungry in this country. We know that the policy choices that both the Trump administration and Congress under GOP leadership are making to let millions of Americans go hungry—that is a choice that they are making. But we also know that there is a policy choice of abundance, that there is a policy choice that we know that works.” 

The Congresswoman was joined by community leaders who shared insight into the real-world impacts of the current chaos in Washington, D.C.   

“We are deeply concerned that decisions being made seem to be in a haphazard manner with no recognition of the potential long-term impact,” said Katy Anderson, Vice President of Strategy, Partnership, and Advocacy at Road Runner Food Bank. “We work with over 500 partners across the state, and some of those partners are facing the loss of much or all of the funding that they rely on to support their communities ... Cuts to programs that support Americans will increase hunger in our country, and I'm going to repeat that. They will increase hunger in our country. There is no doubt.” 

“It’s just very hard right now to think about cuts to SNAP and what that's going to do and what we're going to do at the food bank because we like certainty at food banks,” said Jason Riggs, Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at Road Runner Food Bank. “We got trucks to load. Our trucks cover over 360,000 miles a year. We need to know what's going to be loaded on those trucks way ahead of time and we need the people currently across the street waiting in line to get some food from one of our distributions. We need them to know when they get there, there's going to be food, and when they go to the grocery store, the money's going to be on their EBT card, and they're going to be able to feed their families.” 

“We're facing challenges that make it harder to do this work,” said Renee Ruybal, Chief Advancement Officer at Meals on Wheels. “The rising costs of food and fuel are already putting pressure on our ability to serve every neighbor in need. We're also seeing federal funding changes that impact our ability to expand our operations. Last year, we had an approved project to bring our face-to-face delivery to the town of Bernalillo, to Placitas, and to Algodones. That funding was removed from the recent federal budget bill, putting that expansion on hold. If these programs face more cuts, more New Mexicans will turn to us for help, but at a time when we have fewer resources to meet that growing need. So, all of this: higher costs, federal funding cuts, and potential reductions in other food assistance programs will force us to make tough choices. 

“If hunger is a policy choice, we made a choice together, all of us, that we were not going to tolerate hunger in our communities because our communities are built around food,” said Jill Dixon, Executive Director at The Food Depot. “Every celebration, every lamentation in our communities happens with food at the table. The Food Depot stands for nutritious food being on the table for every single person in our community, and so do my food bank friends. We all should stand for that. It is a fundamental human right to have food at the table. And America has enough food to feed everyone within its borders.” 

“Agri-Cultura is the largest cooperative here in New Mexico,” said Helga Garcia-Garza, Executive Director of Agri-Cultura Network and La Cosecha CSA. “We're small-scale farmers and ranchers that many years ago, in 2009, we developed our mission out of a theory that we wanted to keep production local. We wanted to make it accessible to communities that otherwise would not receive organic produce and keep building capacity, keep having an impact on community health, wealth, and well being. So these programs, the ripple effect not only within the farmers but what we've been doing for years and years collectively together in state policy work to change procurement practices for that local investment and with that long-term vision of New Mexico becoming a sustainable regenerative food state.” 

Impacts on New Mexicans if Trump cuts essential programs:  

• In New Mexico, 487,113 people receive SNAP monthly.
• 1 in 5 New Mexico children face hunger and food insecurity. 

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