How state lawmakers are trying fill gaps left by federal changes to food assistance

When Kasey McBlais, a single mother of two, renewed her federal food assistance benefits for the year, she found the monthly amount inexplicably reduced from $600 to $359.

She was already on a tight budget and spending money out-of-pocket for groceries, especially during the months she did not receive child support. Although nothing about her income, mortgage or any other bills changed, she now has to look for ways to make cuts and rely heavily on free school meals for her children to fill in the gaps.

“My children won’t go hungry,” she said. “I will miss a mortgage payment or an electric bill in order to feed them.”

Due to the Trump administration’s changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, thousands of Mainers like McBlais are seeing disruptions in their benefits, according to Alex Carter, senior policy advocate at Maine Equal Justice, a nonprofit civil legal aid and economic justice organization.