On Friday night, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended all federal funding to Minnesota, freezing SNAP benefits and putting critical grants for farmers at risk.

“Food stamps helped my parents keep food on the table when I was growing up,” said Jake Johnson, who is running for Congress against the chairman of the House Nutrition Subcommittee. “At a time when groceries are already too expensive, it’s outrageous to play politics with SNAP and USDA funding that Minnesota families and farmers depend on. Congressman Brad Finstad oversees the SNAP program in Congress, and we deserve to know why he isn’t standing up for farmers and families in southern Minnesota.”

Over 25,000 families in Minnesota’s first congressional district rely on SNAP benefits to make ends meet. As the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture, Brad Finstad recently cut $186 billion from SNAP in the same bill that gave $1 trillion in tax breaks to the richest 1% of Americans.

Meanwhile, Johnson, a public school teacher who grew up poor in Stewartville, Minnesota, is running for Congress to bring down costs for working families and take on the corruption that got us here in the first place.

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