By Sen. C\u00e9sar J. Blanco<\/p>\n
When the longest federal shutdown brought the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to a standstill, it exposed a truth we cannot afford to ignore: hunger doesn\u2019t wait for politicians to settle their disagreements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And when government grinds to a halt, it\u2019s hard-working families and the most vulnerable who feel the impact first and most painfully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here in Texas, food insecurity is a daily reality for millions of our neighbors. Texas now has the highest number of food-insecure residents in the nation, with 5.3 million people struggling to afford enough to eat. In just one year, our food insecurity rate jumped from 16.4% to 17.6%. Today, one in six Texas households is food insecure. These are hardworking families, doing everything right, yet still unable to consistently put food on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In moments like these, programs like SNAP are lifelines. SNAP remains one of the most effective tools we have to reduce hunger and stabilize families. That is why, in the Texas Senate, I\u2019ve worked to make sure families can access these benefits without outdated rules or unnecessary obstacles standing in their way.<\/p>\n
During the 88th legislative session in 2023, I successfully sponsored and passed House Bill 1287 to update Texas\u2019 outdated vehicle asset test. For years, families were denied food assistance simply because they owned a modest used car \u2013 a car they needed to get to work, take their children to school or drive a loved one to the doctor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those limits hadn\u2019t been updated in two decades. HB 1287 finally brought those values in line with today\u2019s market realities so families wouldn\u2019t lose access to food just because the price of a used car went up. It was common sense, bipartisan, and it made a meaningful difference for families across El Paso, West Texas and the entire state.<\/p>\n
But protecting access to SNAP means more than updating outdated rules. It means fixing the systems families rely on every day. That\u2019s why, during the 89th session this year, I filed Senate Bill 1031 to confront the growing backlog of SNAP applications at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, too many Texans wait weeks or even months for the help they qualify for, while food banks strain under record demand trying to fill the gap. SB 1031 laid out a clear, proven path forward that would have streamlined the approval process, reduced red tape, and adopted a federal-quality control model already used successfully in 45 other states.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill didn\u2019t pass last session, but the problem hasn\u2019t disappeared. If anything, it has taken on new urgency with the federal government\u2019s recent announcement that all current SNAP recipients may soon be required to reapply under a new eligibility verification system. For families already navigating delays, adding another layer of bureaucracy could make an already fragile situation even worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If a family qualifies for help, they shouldn\u2019t be trapped in bureaucratic limbo while their pantry sits empty. No child should have to go without dinner because a state agency is understaffed. No parent should have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries while their application sits untouched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hunger doesn\u2019t wait, and neither should the systems designed to prevent it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Policy matters, but so does community. That\u2019s why I remain committed to helping families not only through legislation but through direct action.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each year, my office hosts a Thanksgiving Turkey Drive so families can sit down to a holiday meal with less financial stress. This year marks our 11th annual drive, where we\u2019ll donate more than 250 turkeys to families across our community. It\u2019s a small gesture, but one that reflects who we are as Texans: people who show up for one another.<\/p>\n
At its core, this is about who we want to be as a state. I believe in a Texas where every family has the security and opportunity they deserve, no matter their ZIP code or income.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll keep fighting to modernize our food assistance systems and eliminate needless delays, not just during shutdowns and emergencies, but every single day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the wealthiest country in the world, hunger should never be the result of politics, bureaucracy, or partisanship. It should never be the lived reality for a child in Texas. And for as long as I have the privilege to serve, I\u2019ll work to ensure it never is.<\/p>\n
C\u00e9sar J. Blanco represents the 29th District in the Texas Senate, which includes El Paso and seven other counties.<\/p>\n
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/elpasomatters.org\/2025\/11\/21\/opinion-cesar-blanco-texas-snap-food-insecurity\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/elpasomatters.org”>El Paso Matters<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/elpasomatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cropped-epmatters-favicon2.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n
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