Pueblo leader says USDA cuts will increase reliance on ‘commodities’
Recent federal cuts to food programs will force more tribal members in New Mexico to rely on the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, often called “commodities,” according to James Mountain, chairman of the All Pueblo Council of Governors. Mountain spoke Thursday to an interim New Mexico legislative committee, Source NM reported.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently ended its Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program, which had allocated more than $5.7 million to the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo. Congress also reduced funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Mountain said the commodities program, which has existed since the 1970s, serves many low-income households but operates on a flat budget. “We will see an influx of those participants migrating back into the Food Distribution Program,” Mountain said. “And our question to USDA, to President Trump and the administration and to lawmakers, is, how are we going to fund this?”
- 1.Source NM.
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