Over the weekend, Attorney General Aaron Ford published an op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun highlighting why the fight to protect SNAP benefits is a personal one for him. Ford sued the Trump administration for unlawfully suspending SNAP benefits, which nearly 500,000 Nevadans rely on. Ford has since won the lawsuit and federal judges ruled that the administration must fund SNAP. 

Even after federal courts made their ruling, Trump has refused to prioritize children and fund the SNAP program. At a time when one in four Nevada children are already unsure where their next meal will come from, Lombardo celebrated Trump’s disastrous tax bill that cuts billions from the SNAP, has refused to call on the president to fully fund the program during the government shutdown, and been silent about Trump cutting $8 million in funding that would have helped Nevada schools and food banks buy fresh food from local growers. 

This week, Ford visited the UNLV food pantry to make a donation, volunteer, hear the concerns of students, and share his personal story. 

Read Attorney General Ford’s op-ed below: 

Las Vegas Sun: Aaron Ford: Fight to protect SNAP benefits for Nevadans is personal

• In 1993, I found myself in a dilemma. I was a 21-year-old college student with a newborn baby and no clue how I’d be able to both finish school and provide for my son and myself. So, I had to make a decision: drop out or ask for help.
  
  

• Food stamps kept me and my son fed until I was able to graduate, find a good job, and support my family. And my story isn’t unique. Today, nearly half a million Nevadans rely on food stamps, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, to feed themselves and their families. But President Donald Trump recklessly chose to suspend the benefits and put Nevadans at risk of losing access to food until federal courts ordered that he must use emergency funds to fund the program.
  
  

• One in four children in Nevada don’t know where their next meal is going to come from. Meanwhile, construction has begun on a new White House ballroom for Trump. Two new fancy government jets have been purchased for Trump’s Cabinet at an estimated cost of up to $200 million. And Trump is handing Argentina a $40 billion check. Yet, the president refused to take action to protect SNAP benefits so kids don’t go hungry until a federal judge forced his hand.
  
  

• And here in Nevada, Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed legislation that would have guaranteed breakfast and lunch to students.
  
  

• Lombardo and Trump should put themselves in the shoes of the single mother of four, or the elderly man who cannot work, or the foster child who, on his 18th birthday, finds he has nowhere to go. 
  
  

• That’s why I took President Trump to court. I sued the Trump administration to make it use contingency funds already appropriated by Congress to fund SNAP instead of forcing millions of families into hunger as a political gambit, and the judge ruled that the administration has until Monday to detail how it’ll comply.
  
  

• My office is actively exploring every legal avenue to ensure no Nevadan goes hungry, and I will use every tool available to me to ensure that families receive the SNAP benefits for which they are eligible — because Nevada families can’t afford for politicians to play games with their livelihoods.
  
  

• When given the opportunity to stand up to Donald Trump, Lombardo refused to urge the president to ensure SNAP recipients receive their benefits. But I stood up to Trump. I stood up for Nevadans. 

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