Shaheen Guest for State of the Union will Highlight Trump Administration Policies Worsening the Cost of Food and Groceries, Jeopardizing Food Assistance for Granite Staters

(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) announced that Elsy Cipriani, the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Food Bank, will be her guest for President Trump’s State of the Union address to Congress tomorrow night to highlight the growing affordability crisis that many Americans are facing, including rising food and grocery prices. As New Hampshire’s only food bank, the non-profit’s ability to distribute millions of pounds of food to Granite Staters is being hurt by federal funding cuts in President Trump and Republican’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included $187 billion in cuts to food assistance to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

“In every corner of New Hampshire, people are being squeezed by rising costs that our President has made worse with policies like his tariffs that are making life more expensive for families,” said Senator Shaheen. “President Trump couldn’t be more wrong when he calls the affordability concerns of working Americans a ‘hoax.’ I’m honored to have the New Hampshire Food Bank’s Executive Director, Elsy Cipriani, joining me for the State of the Union to call attention to the very real cost of living crisis that my constituents are facing and to highlight how devastating cuts to food assistance signed into law by President Trump to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans are making it harder for Granite Staters to put food on the table for their families.”

“We are honored to have been invited to the State of the Union by Senator Shaheen and recognized for the collective efforts of the New Hampshire Food Bank and our more than 400 partner agencies,” said Elsy Cipriani, Executive Director, New Hampshire Food Bank. “Now more than ever, food insecurity is having devastating consequences on vulnerable families and children in the Granite State. Today in New Hampshire, one in every nine people and one in every seven children experience food insecurity. In some of our most rural communities, child food insecurity rates exceed 20%. It is our mission to not only provide nutritious food to residents in need, but also to address the root causes of hunger, including increasing education around SNAP and promoting enrollment for those who qualify. Feeding families and children is a bipartisan issue everyone can support. We are grateful to Senator Shaheen for her efforts and hopeful SNAP benefits are restored to those who need it most.”

Senator Shaheen has consistently called for action to address the rising cost of living that is making life more expensive for Granite Staters, including by advocating for more support for food assistance programs that help people afford food and groceries. Shaheen was unequivocally opposed to President Trump and Congressional Republican’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which has put 4 million people nationwide, including 1 million children, at risk of losing food assistance. As part of her efforts to highlight the impacts of this “Big Beautiful Betrayal,” last year, Shaheen visited the New Hampshire Food Bank to hear directly from stakeholders whose work and the people they serve were being impacted by federal funding cuts.

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