00:00Now we go to the United States as cuts to the SNAP Food Assistance Program are shifting
00:06the burden of feeding millions of people onto states and local programs amid rising food
00:11prices.
00:12Our correspondent, Don Albright, has the details.
00:18Nearly 900,000 Massachusetts residents, about 1 in 8 people in the state, receive SNAP to
00:25help buy groceries.
00:26Starting today, October 1st, states must pay 75% of SNAP administrative costs, up from
00:34half, about $53 million more a year for Massachusetts, the latest in continuing cuts to the Hunger
00:41Relief Program.
00:43This is Anson, the coordinator.
00:46Hi.
00:46You can see that the numbers of individuals there are going up.
00:51Yeah, it's going well.
00:53Individuals, boxes of food, bags of food, going up there.
00:56I asked Gabriella Snyder-Stelmach, director of the food pantry Bread of Life in Malden,
01:02whether pantries can absorb the need.
01:05The Greater Boston Food Bank, 600 member agencies, no, we cannot make up the difference in the
01:13SNAP cuts.
01:13What we do, as important as it is, and as helpful as it is, it's not comparable in scale to
01:21SNAP.
01:22And that's why everyone is trying to work to restore those cuts.
01:26Grocery prices are up nearly 30% in the U.S. in just five years.
01:32Increasingly, Americans are turning to buy now, pay later loan apps like Klarna or Zip to buy
01:37them.
01:38We've lost nearly 190,000 people from a program since just last summer.
01:44And that hasn't been because the need is less.
01:47Food insecurity, according to Greater Boston Food Bank's latest number, is 40% of Massachusetts' households.
01:52The Trump administration says tighter SNAP rules will encourage work, reduce improper payments,
01:59and hold states accountable for taxpayer dollars.
02:02But research reviews find work requirements cut participation far more than they increase employment.
02:09It's a man-made crisis. It's one that was legislated. It wasn't like a natural disaster.
02:15So it is kind of particularly heartbreaking to see policy choices leading to people not having
02:22access to food.
02:23As federal support shrinks, the need for food isn't. More of the burden is shifting onto states,
02:30local food programs, and households already struggling with higher prices.
02:35Dan Albright, Telesor, Malden, Mass.
