“Our situation is very difficult,” Marisela testified in Salem earlier this year. A worker at a tree nursery in Forest Grove, she told lawmakers that working 12 or even 14 hours a day “is still not enough to cover basic needs, including food for the whole family.”

Marisela is not alone. More than two in five Oregonians struggle to afford their basic needs. Food pantries across the state received 2.5 million visits last year, according to the Oregon Food Bank, a 31% increase from the previous year. 

September is Hunger Action Month. It’s a time when Americans come together to raise awareness about the hunger in our communities, and to take actions to ensure all of us can put food on the table. This year, that task is made all the more difficult by the actions and inaction of federal and state lawmakers alike. Still, the fact remains that in a prosperous state in one of history’s richest nations, hunger is a policy choice.

Our nation knows how to reduce hunger; we’ve done it before. Beginning as an effort to redistribute surplus food during the Great Depression, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has evolved into a foundational safety net program for nearly 42 million Americans. The success of the Black Panther Party’s free breakfast program led to the creation of the National School Breakfast program in 1975, which today ensures some 15 million kids start their school days with a meal. During the pandemic, the expanded Child Tax Credit cut child poverty in half while improving the ability of families to put more nutritious meals on the table. In short, we need not look far for policies that reduce hunger.  

Regrettably, the 2025 Oregon legislature passed up an opportunity to take meaningful action against hunger. It failed to advance Food for All Oregonians, a policy that would have expanded food assistance to children and elderly Oregonians barred from government assistance because of their immigration status. A bill expanding school meals to all Oregon children also stalled. 

But the Oregon legislature’s failure pales in comparison to the wrecking ball that is the budget enacted by the Republican-controlled Congress. The Republican budget bill showers the wealthy with trillions in new and extended tax cuts, paid for in part by substantial cuts to federal food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Congressional Republicans – including Oregon Representative Cliff Bentz – chose to take food away from those who need it to feed the insatiable greed of the wealthy.

While proponents of the federal reconciliation package tout the tax cuts it provides to families as significant, the numbers belie their claims. In Oregon, the average family in the poorest 20 percent of households will see about a $70 tax benefit from the Republican budget bill for the entire year: far too little to feed a family for a month. And that is before taking into account the impacts from reduced SNAP benefits or higher grocery prices resulting from the Trump administration’s tariff policies. 

Meanwhile, the average member of the top 1% – the richest one out of every 100 Oregonians –  will see nearly $43,000 in tax benefits, more than what many families in Oregon make in a year. 

No doubt, the destructive bill passed by Congress reinforces the need for leadership at the state level. 

First and foremost is ensuring Oregon has the revenue needed to preserve federal food assistance. The Republican budget makes significant cuts to SNAP, including shifting part of the cost of providing food assistance onto states beginning in 2028. The Governor’s office estimates the SNAP cuts in the budget bill could require Oregon to find nearly $3 billion over the next several budget periods in order to continue supporting those struggling to get by. Oregon lawmakers must begin the work now to ensure the state has the revenue needed to pay that bill.

Still, keeping our SNAP program afloat will not fix the fact that so many of our neighbors were already struggling to keep food on the table. Lawmakers must work to eliminate hunger altogether. 

That means advancing a broad worker power agenda that ensures all Oregonians have a say in the workplace, and that they can support their families with a good-paying job. It means creating a new safety net that functions as an income floor, ensuring everyone can meet their basic needs, paid for by taxing the rich and big corporations.

There is much to do, and no time to waste.