Elizabeth Kenefick

#HealthEquity & Economic Sec Strategist | Formerly @ahahospitals @WomenEmployed @theOunce @CLASP_DC @CenteronBudget @YoungInvincible | @HarrisPolicy @GUAlumni

[Elizabeth Kenefick @eakenefick]

This. https://t.co/PEmMQKcuC8

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

The Trump Administration has apparently renamed the federal agency overseeing federal nutrition programs like SNAP, WIC, and school meals. (Certainly wouldn't want to imply that you might get any food and nutrition service!)

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Can't be stated enough that *eligible* low-income Arizonans are losing their SNAP benefits.

They just can't get through the process to demonstrate their eligibility because Arizona's response to federal SNAP cuts is pushing its understaffed state agency to its breaking point.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Arizona just posted data for April. The number of children receiving SNAP in Arizona has now fallen by 55% since H.R. 1 became law last summer — not because their families no longer needed help affording groceries, but because of how the state is responding to these federal cuts.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

The farm bill scheduled for a House floor vote this week does nothing to address this unfolding crisis — and could make it worse by providing sweeping authority for states to outsource core SNAP eligibility functions to private companies with minimal oversight.

[Bobby Kogan @BBKogan]

In July, Trump enacted the largest cuts to food assistance in US history.

Then he indefinitely cancelled the survey that measures hunger in America.

Meanwhile, official data show the number of people who receive food assistance in America plummeting.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

New USDA data released today: H.R. 1 enacted the deepest SNAP cuts in history last July. By January, more than 3 million fewer people were receiving food assistance. Nationwide, SNAP caseloads fell by more than 8% in just 6 months — despite no improvement in economic conditions.

[Bobby Kogan @BBKogan]

Great new stat from @SenateBudget: of the $140 billion that Trump & Republicans gave ICE & CBP in the Big Beautiful Bill, $103 billion is still unobligated as of the end of March.

Now they’re asking for another $70 billion even though about 75% of the OBBBA money remains unused.

[The Georgetown Voice @GtownVoice]

"Let Freedom Ring!", an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration hosted by Georgetown's MLK Initiative, will not perform on the Kennedy Center stage this year for the first time in the program's 23-year history. Read more: https://t.co/rsdHrbodvt

[NGA @NatlGovsAssoc]

Officials on the frontlines of SNAP benefits administration are warning Congress about a little-known legislative provision with a huge impact on state budget. State and county leaders detailed the impacts in a congressional briefing yesterday. Learn more: https://t.co/3gftsQOPfz

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Worth mentioning: USDA's position is that these SNAP eligibility restrictions were effective the day the law was enacted, July 4. But USDA didn't issue any implementation guidance until October 31. They didn't clarify aspects of that initial guidance until *this week.*

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

"With the largest cuts in the program’s history looming, states should reject SNAP food restrictions & focus on reducing hardship amid slashed funding & eligibility rollbacks—not compound burdens by making it more complicated to use this critical program." https://t.co/65hzW15v8i

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

I don't think the public has fully grasped that the Republican megabill means that SNAP could end altogether in some states - or the extent to which the Administration is setting states up to fail, spiking the costs they'll face & making deep cuts to food assistance more likely.

[Austin Berg @Austin__Berg]

NEW: Last week marked the 17th anniversary of Chicago selling 36,000 parking meters to private investors for 75 years in exchange for $1.15B in cash.

The parking meters have since generated $2B for the investors, with 58 years still left on the lease.

It is the most infamous political tale in modern Chicago history. And the one thing Chicagoans of all political stripes agree on: they hate it.

Yet despite all the attention, Chicago learned the wrong lessons from the parking meter deal.

In this week's edition of The Last Ward, we learn how to hate it for the right reasons ⬇️

https://t.co/BBAdzJePKc

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

USDA publishes extensive data about SNAP. The entire Quality Control dataset is publicly available! There’s no need to aggregate the highly sensitive personal information of tens of millions of people in a centralized database & put it at risk of unauthorized use or disclosure.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Monthly SNAP costs when Joe Biden became President in January 2021: $8.68 billion.

Monthly SNAP costs when his term ended in January 2025: $7.97 billion.

I don't think you need to whip out a calculator to figure out that's not a 40% increase.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

There's no "opportunity" created by work requirements. Research consistently shows that they don't increase employment or earnings. They just create huge amounts of red tape that cuts people off SNAP & leaves them worse off — including people who are working or should be exempt.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Do Congressional Republicans know that the megabill they passed this summer cuts the federal match for states’ costs to transition to more secure SNAP payment methods *in half* starting next year?

[Shelby Gonzales @shelbytg74]

By moving to rescind the Biden Admin’s #PublicCharge rule, which largely restored long-standing policy after courts blocked a harmful rule put forward in the first Trump rule, the Administration is reigniting fear & confusion among people who are immigrants and their families.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Aside from the fact that SNAP participants already have to periodically recertify for benefits — usually every 6 or 12 months — SNAP rules also prohibit states from arbitrarily shortening a household's certification period to force them to reapply early.

[Katie Bergh @Katie_Bergh]

Food assistance for low-income veterans isn't only at risk because of the shutdown. The Republican megabill's SNAP cuts specifically targeted veterans by eliminating their previous exemption from SNAP's harsh three-month time limit.