Denver — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined the entire Senate Democratic Caucus to introduce the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act, which would repeal all the devastating Republican cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) made in the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill”.
“Across Colorado, families tell me they’re working hard but still can’t keep up with the cost of groceries,” said Bennet. “SNAP is an essential lifeline for more than 600,000 Coloradans. But in a moment of rising need, the devastating cuts Republicans passed this summer are already taking hold, with even deeper reductions ahead. That means parents skipping meals so their kids can eat, seniors choosing between groceries and prescriptions, farmers losing customers, food pantries stretched to the brink, and local grocers seeing fewer sales. This won’t only harm families, it will strain entire communities and local economies. With this bill, we can reverse that damage and make sure Colorado families can put food on the table.”
“We’re the wealthiest country in the world, yet families are struggling to afford groceries,” said Hickenlooper. “Republicans pushed through the Big Ugly Betrayal bill, gutting SNAP to fund tax cuts for the richest Americans. Their cuts will take meals away from thousands of Coloradans. It’s cruel, and we need to fix it.”
SNAP is the nation’s largest food assistance program and serves 42 million Americans, including children, seniors, veterans, workers, and people with disabilities. This past July, Republicans voted to strip $186 billion from SNAP in their “One Big Beautiful Bill”, marking the largest cut to the program in history. Additionally, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” creates a massive unfunded mandate on state governments by shifting a portion of benefit costs to states and increasing the amount of funding states must pay to administer the program.
In October, Bennet and Hickenlooper called on U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to release billions of dollars in funding to ensure SNAP benefits continued during the shutdown. Despite this, the Trump Administration illegally withheld funding for SNAP, leaving millions of Americans unsure whether they would receive the benefits they need to put food on the table. In November, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined the Senate Democratic Caucus to introduce the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act, legislation to protect Americans’ food access while the Trump Administration illegally withheld available funds. Bennet and Hickenlooper also introduced a resolution in November calling on Senate Republicans to force President Trump to immediately use all congressionally approved funding to keep families from going hungry.
The text of the bill is available HERE.