ICYMI: Luján Unveils Legislation to Reverse Devastating SNAP Cuts, Restore Food Security for Millions of Americans
Bicameral legislation earned the backing of all Senate Democrats, nearly 1,500 national, state, and community-based organizations
Washington, D.C. – ICYMI: This week, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research, led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in introducing the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025 to repeal the devastating Republican cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) made in the Republican Budget Betrayal.
During the Republican shutdown, Senator Luján’s efforts to ensure millions of Americans would receive their food benefits made national news after Senate Republican Leadership blocked that effort. Despite that obstruction, his bill earned bipartisan support.
Bloomberg: New Mexico leads the nation in SNAP use per capita, prompting Luján to play a key role developing anti-hunger policy this year. During the longest government shutdown on record, he introduced legislation to keep the program funded along with nutrition aid for women and infants, a measure Republicans ultimately blocked.
“For half a century, our nation has stood behind a bipartisan promise: that no child, no senior, no veteran, and no working family should go hungry,” Luján said. “Republicans broke that promise and ripped meals away from millions of Americans in their Budget Betrayal.”
Politico: Democrats led by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) introduced a bill Thursday that would completely undo all changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that Republicans passed in their “big, beautiful bill” package this summer.
It’s the party’s latest effort to undo or curb the impact of around $186 billion in cuts to SNAP and agriculture-related spending as policies like new work requirements take effect.
Agri-Pulse: Lujan said rural groceries will be hit hard. “No one’s been talking about rural grocery stores,” he said. “Over 10%, 20% of the revenue that goes to these local grocery stores comes from SNAP beneficiaries. Think about the smallest towns all across America who worked hard just to get that grocery store.”
Source NM: U.S. Sen Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico led fellow senators Thursday in a denunciation of recent federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program before introducing a bill that would repeal all SNAP-related changes in the recently enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Luján, a Democrat who leads a Senate subcommittee on nutrition and represents the state with the highest nationwide percentage of SNAP recipients, called the cuts cruel and unprecedented.
Santa Fe New Mexican: “My Republican colleagues have chosen to let their constituents go hungry. My legislation will stop that,” Luján, D-N.M., said Thursday during a news conference announcing the legislation. “We must ensure that no child, no senior, no veteran and no hardworking family is denied the basic dignity of a meal.”
This isn’t Luján’s first attempt to undo some of the cuts brought on by the budget reconciliation. He was among a group of Democratic senators to introduce legislation in July to reverse the law’s health care cuts, though that bill hasn’t moved beyond introduction in the intervening months.
Nearly 1,500 community organizations across the U.S. — including several food banks and farmers organizations in New Mexico — signed a letter in support of Luján’s legislation to undo the SNAP cuts.
KRQE: New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan is leading an effort on Capitol Hill to reverse cuts to the SNAP program. Senate Democrats have introduced a bill to repeal cuts to the food assistance program implemented in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
There are people across the country who you probably stand in line with when you’re checking out at a grocery store,” said New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D). “Everyday folks. Right now they face the real possibility of going hungry because of the choices made by President Trump and congressional Republicans.”
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