EVERETT—Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) on Wednesday, March 19, hosted a Hunger Prevention Roundtable at the Carl Gipson Center in Everett with local nonprofit Northwest Harvest to discuss the potential local impacts of proposed cuts to SNAP and budget freezes by his Republican colleagues.
Last month, the Republican majority in the House released their budget resolution which did pass.,” Larsen said, “The Agriculture Committee, which oversees agriculture funding and food assistance, its direction is to cut at least $230 billion over ten years. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees a lot of health care issues including Medicaid, is being directed to find $880 billion in cuts over ten years – most of which will end up being Medicaid, cutting access to health care.”
“The end result of the budget resolution, whether it’s the Senate version or the House version, does not result in deficit reduction,” he added. “It’s redirecting tax dollars to help pay for a very large tax cut… It’s important to understand that all this effort is being done not to lower the deficit. It’s to pay for a massive tax cut which will go to the richest Americans and the largest corporations in the country.”
Earlier this year, Larsen launched his “Republican Rip-Off,” campaign educating voters on what he calls a betrayal by Republicans to “the middle class by gutting services that help millions of families afford health care, put food on the table and receive a quality education” by “handing a $4.5 trillion tax cut to the richest Americans and wealthiest corporations.”
The Washington State Department of Agriculture reported that one in four Washingtonians went to a food bank in 2024 – a significant rise from 2023 and 2022. In WA-02, more than 93,000 community members depend on SNAP and many more rely on food banks and free or reduced school meals.
In Whatcom County, approximately 50% of children last year were born into families that use Medicaid as their primary health insurance; it is 73% in Skagit County.
“People don’t talk about these things but the fact is somebody doesn’t have to go too far to find that next somebody that is going to be negatively impacted by this,” said Laren.
Last year, Rep. Larsen served meals to kids at the Alderwood Boys & Girls Club to highlight the need for passing his Summer Meals Act of 2024, a bipartisan bill he introduced along with Mary Peltola (D-AK) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), to fight childhood hunger by expanding access to healthy, nutritious meals and snacks offered to students during the summer months.
He has also supported bills to expand access to food for college students and members of the military, as well as increase access to SNAP assistance.
According to its website, Northwest Washington is “an anti-racist, anti-oppression food justice organization. In addition to ensuring access to healthy food for those experiencing hunger, we aim to shift public opinion and change policies and practices that perpetuate hunger, poverty, and racism.”
Author: Mario Lotmore
