The federal budget bill is moving through Congress, bringing threats to the health and safety of children and families. This bill cuts billions from health care coverage and food assistance without acknowledging the true consequences of these cuts. This is simply going too far, too fast. 

Make your voice heard today and tomorrow.

Nutrition and health care coverage are essential basics that children and families need to thrive, yet both are at risk in the budget bill. Historic cuts to Medicaid, which is the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) in Arizona, would leave Arizonans without health care. Changes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would make private purchase marketplace plans unaffordable for many. Assistance with buying groceries is also at risk for struggling Arizonans as massive cuts are proposed to the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Key Concerns About the Budget’s Impact on Children and Families

• More than 300,000 Arizonans will lose their health care due to Medicaid/AHCCCS cuts and loss of Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage. This will cause financial strain on Arizona’s overall health care system, and is likely to lead to higher costs for everyone and less health care providers, including rural hospitals, staying in business. 
• For the first time ever, Congress puts the survival of SNAP at risk by shifting program costs to states like Arizona that may not allocate the state funds needed to keep the program running. Enacting severe cuts may also reduce how many people can be served. More than 900,000 Arizonans turned to SNAP at some point in 2024 to help with groceries 

The Budget Process

Soon, the U.S. Senate will vote on the budget bill. Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Ruben Gallego have clearly stated that they are voting NO because the bill will hurt Arizonans and will harm Arizona’s economy. 

However, after the Senate vote, the budget bill is likely to quickly go back to the U.S. House of Representatives for a final vote. Your member of the Arizona House of Representatives still needs to know how this bill will impact you and your community.   

Please make your voice heard today and help others do the same. It is CRITICALLY important to reach out now to Arizona’s Representatives in the U.S. House. 

What can you do?

Send an email today to your member of Congress. We’ve made it easy by connecting you directly with your congressional representative through the link below.  

Call your member of Congress. We’ve shared phone numbers below. This bill leaves millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Arizonans behind. 

• U.S. Capitol Switchboard - 202-224-3121
• Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) – 202-224-2325
• Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) – 202-224-4521
• Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ01) – 202-225-2190
• Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ02) – 202-225-3361
• Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ03) – 202-225-4065
• Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ04) – 202-225-9888
• Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ05) – 202-225-2635
• Representative Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ06) – 202-225-2542
• Representative Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ08) – 202-225-4576
• Representative Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ09) – 202-225-2315

Children’s Action Alliance envisions Arizona as a state where all children and families thrive. When children live in fear, we are failing our children. 

As federal immigration enforcement operations deploy tactics that raise legal, constitutional, and moral concerns, Children’s Action Alliance encourages partners to be informed and resourced to support the well-being and safety of immigrant, citizen, and mixed-status children and families in Arizona. 

In preparation and response to federal actions, families and allies can seek and share valuable resources, including the following: 

1. The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project

• Email: firrp@firrp.org
• For Immigrant Parents | Making a Family Plan 
• Website: www.firrp.org

2. Aliento

• Email: info@alientoaz.org
• Defense and Preparation Plan — Aliento
• Website: www.alientoaz.org

3. Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE)                              

• Defense And Preparation Resource   
• Website: https://www.empoweraz.org/immigration

4. National Immigration Law Center (NILC)

• Email: info@nilc.org
• What to Do if You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration
• Website: www.nilc.org

5. Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN)

• Email: info@childrenthriveaction.org
• Rapid Response Resources 
• Website: www.childrenthriveaction.org

6. Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

• Email: info@clasp.org
• A Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs
• Website: www.clasp.org

Children’s Action Alliance is committed to advocating for policies to protect children and their families. We stand opposed to unlawful and inhumane immigration enforcement operations that harm children, violate constitutional processes and protections, or erode trust and public safety in our communities. Consider the following recent reports, which raise exactly such concerns: 

• ICE agents mistakenly detain U.S. marshal in Arizona
• ICE resumes courthouse arrests in Phoenix, but with new tactics amid opposition
• All the U.S. Citizens, Children Detained or Deported by ICE

We continue to urge all Arizonans to stay informed and share resources for the protection of all children and families in Arizona.

Early this morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill. This bill includes significant cuts to health care that will result in eligible Arizonans losing their health insurance coverage through AHCCCS and the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. It also jeopardizes assistance with grocery bills for those in need.  

As a consequence of this harmful bill, more children, families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities will face hunger and lose access to health care.

We want to thank every Arizonan who made their voice heard during this first phase of the budget process. Your advocacy mattered - and our work is not done  

The bill will now move to the U.S. Senate, where there are members who have expressed alarm about the negative impact the House bill would have on the people they serve. Senator Mark Kelly and Senator Ruben Gallego have been clear that they oppose this bill. 

For now, we thank Representative Yassamin Ansari and Representative Greg Stanton for voting against this bill. We share disappointment that Representative Schweikert did not vote on the bill, and that Representatives Biggs, Ciscomani, Crane, Gosar, and Hamadeh supported this bill, which leaves many Arizonans behind.   

Please continue to share how this budget bill impacts you through letters to the editor of your local media, social media, and by keeping others informed. There is more work ahead!

We have just THREE days to stop a budget bill that includes drastic cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and more. These cuts will cause pain for children, families, and Arizonans in every county in our state. As costs are rising, people who are struggling will be stripped of their health care and assistance with buying groceries. They also will make Arizona’s economy take a big hit, which would come just as many already feel uncertainty about our economy. 

If the U.S. House of Representatives stick to their timeline, our representatives will vote for or against this bill on May 22, 2025. This means they will be voting for or against Arizonans. Have you told your representative how these cuts will impact you or your community? If you have, now is a good time to do it again or get a friend or colleague to do so. If you haven’t, please make your voice heard today. 

What can you do?

1. Send an email today to your Representative. We’ve made it easy by connecting you directly with your Representative at the link below. 
2. Dial in. You can call today or tomorrow and help flood the phone lines so your member of Congress knows you care about these harmful cuts. 

Arizona Congressional Delegation

Thank you for caring about all Arizonans and taking action today!

If our members of Congress cut SNAP, they will increase child hunger. SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, America’s largest anti-hunger program.

Despite the real pain this will inflict on children, seniors, and families, Congress is marching towards $230 billion in cuts – the largest reduction in history – that will force more people in Arizona to go hungry. In 2024, 923,400 Arizonans turned to this program to help them buy groceries and feed themselves and their families.

Right now and over the next several days, Congress is drafting legislation behind closed doors that will determine the future of this anti-hunger program.

Making Life Harder for Parents of School-Aged Children

One proposal is to increase the already stringent eligibility requirements around the program, which are costly to administer, and make it harder for families to keep up with complicated reporting requirements. For example, Arizona already has work requirements in place, but Congress is looking at new work requirements, including for families with school-aged children. In Arizona, about 32 percent of families with children are at risk of losing food assistance. This is a policy that will hurt struggling families and leave more children hungry. We urge Congress to exempt families with school-aged children from any work requirement proposal they may pursue.

Shifting Financial Responsibility to States With Empty Coffers

Another proposal they are considering is to drastically reduce federal investment, with an assumption that state budgets will fill the gap. We know in Arizona that our fiscal picture is unlikely to have ample state funds to make up the difference. This means more people will go hungry.

We urge our members of Congress to prevent massive cuts to SNAP because in this time of economic uncertainty and rising costs, their decision will result in a significant increase in hunger for Arizonans, including far too many children. 

Please join us in making your voice heard today with your member of Congress.

923,400 people in Arizona who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) could be at risk of going hungry if Congress moves forward with a plan to cut $230 billion or more from the program over nearly 10 years. The specific details of the cuts are not public yet, but some Congressional leaders are calling for states to be required to pay a portion of Arizonan’s SNAP food benefits for the first time. Congress should reject this proposal and protect SNAP from harmful budget cuts.

To fund a portion of SNAP food benefits, Arizona would need to raise revenue, cut funding for other state-funded programs and services, cut SNAP benefit levels, restrict program eligibility, or some combination of these – all options that would cost Arizona more or take food assistance away from Arizonans. This proposal comes as Arizona cut programs and delayed costs, among other budget gimmicks, to resolve a $1.7 billion budget shortfall last summer. While Arizona’s current budget outlook is not in the red, it’s dangerously close.

Congressional leaders have not said how much they would force states to pay of SNAP food benefit costs. But if they create a new state match of 50% of SNAP benefits, it would cost Arizona about $100 million in 2026; a 25% match requirement would cost Arizona $501 million. It would be the first time that the federal government did not fully fund the cost of food benefits, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Congressional members are pushing deep federal spending cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and other vital services to “offset” the costs of extending and expanding tax cuts for the wealthy. Their tax cuts for households with incomes in the top 1 percent alone would cost roughly $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Forcing states to help pay SNAP benefits would let federal policymakers enact unpopular cuts while making someone else — state policymakers — decide which participants lose benefits.

“Listen to families. Every time a mom or dad goes to the grocery store, they are paying more for less,” said January Contreras, Executive Director of Children’s Action Alliance. “Our congressional delegation needs to hold the line on good policy that keeps children and seniors from going hungry and brings our tax dollars back into our local economy.”

“The prospect of this radical and sudden cost shift comes at a time when the Arizona budget is already strained,” said Geraldine Miranda. Economic Policy Analyst for the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. “As state legislators negotiate to work key tax and spending priorities into a balanced budget for next fiscal year, even a small new SNAP matching requirement would force wrenching trade-offs between letting more children going hungry and funding other important public services, such as education and public safety.”

If Arizona were required to match even 10% of SNAP benefit costs, the $200 million price to ensure families don’t lose food assistance would be equivalent to eliminating the child care waiting list for the final 6 months of the current budget. Arizona could pass along some of the cost to counties and cities, either directly or indirectly.

In Arizona, more than 68% of participating families have children, and almost 29% of participating families include seniors or adults with disabilities. Research shows SNAP reduces food insecurity and is linked to improved health, education, and economic outcomes and to lower medical costs for participants.

SNAP benefits are spent at more than 4,600 grocery stores in the state. Every $1 in additional spending on SNAP benefits in a weak economy generates $1.54 in economic activity when households use their benefits to shop at local businesses in their communities.