Arizona advocates warn against Republican cuts to kids’ healthcare, food programs

Republicans argue cuts to Medicaid and food stamps are targeted to young men ‘playing video games all day,’ but advocates warn they will in fact harm Arizona parents and their kids.

The US Senate is expected to vote on President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” in the coming days, and advocates at the Children’s Action Alliance (CAA), an Arizona‑based based advocacy group, are warning about the bill’s potential impacts on Arizona families and children.

The proposed legislation, which passed the House last month with support from all Arizona Republicans, would cut Medicaid by nearly $800 billion and cut nearly $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, in order to help fund tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

Jennifer J. Burns, the Director of Government Relations and Health Policy at CAA cautions that this legislation could be devastating for Arizona families and warns against the new ‘red tape’ in the bill.

The legislation, as currently drafted, requires millions of able-bodied and working-age adults to work in order to qualify for Medicaid and SNAP, and to check in every six months to maintain their eligibility.

Economic experts have called the bill’s requirements a “paperwork trap,” arguing that recipients will “get lost in a maze of forms” and potentially lose their benefits, saving the federal government money while portraying it as “combating fraud.”

“This bill ‘saves money’ by adding red tape that forces people off health care and SNAP,” said Burns. “But the health care and food needs of Arizonans won’t go away. Instead, all Arizonans will suffer.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) defended the requirements, arguing they won’t affect people like single mothers or veterans, but rather “young men who need to be out working instead of playing video games all day.”

But advocates argue the bill will in fact target the exact kinds of people Johnson says it won’t. Burns worries that if an Arizona family checks their mail infrequently, they could miss a required check-in and potentially lose their only access to health care and food assistance.

“You have parents working, maybe two or three jobs. They don’t have time to prove they meet the proposed work requirements every 6 months,” said Burns. “If they don’t report their work or don’t open their mail regularly, they risk losing health insurance due to wasteful red tape.”

Arizona Republicans in Congress, such as US Rep. Andy Biggs — who is running to be the state’s next governor — argue that the new work verifications will cut “fraud, waste and abuse.” 

But a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy organization, shows that nearly two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are already working. The overwhelming majority of those who are not already working are tending to other responsibilities such as caregiving, illness or disability, or attending school.

Advocacy groups say the hurdles are designed to push vulnerable people off their care under the guise of combating fraud. 

Arizona children could lose a lifeline

Geraldine Miranda, the Economic Policy Analyst with the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, worries that cuts to SNAP will impact Arizona children both at home and at school. 

It’s easier for families on food stamps to get access to free or reduced lunch at school. These proposed changes to SNAP could leave fewer students automatically enrolled for free school meals, especially if students enrolled in both SNAP and Medicaid were to lose both benefits. 

“Cutting food assistance means longer wait times,” said Miranda. “Parents don’t have time to be on the phone for even longer to feed their families.”

Nearly 150,000 Arizona students receive free or reduced school meals, and the proposed new legislation threatens their access to what could be the only meal they receive each day.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs joined 22 other Democratic governors in signing a letter urging Congress not to gut funding for SNAP or shift the financial responsibility to the states.

The Senate is now rushing to get the bill onto President Trump’s desk before July 4.

Arizona’s Democratic senators, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, have sounded the alarm over cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.  

“Any Republican supporting this should be ashamed,” Sen. Gallego said last week in a post on X.

Sen. Kelly on Thursday shared a similar sentiment in a post on X: “Republicans could’ve spent this year trying to tackle any number of problems facing Americans. Instead, they’ve spent the past five months crafting a giant tax break for rich people that also leaves working families worse off. That’s backwards.”

President Trump has warned the Senate that there will be “no vacations” until the bill lands on his desk.

“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and get the deal done this week,” Trump said in a Thursday post on Truth Social.