Rising prices tied to Donald Trump’s costly war in Iran have one Republican senator admitting she’s “worried” about her constituents.
Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who was elected in 2020 with Donald Trump’s endorsement, spoke Tuesday about one bad trend in her home state: food insecurity. That problem has played out while the inflation rate tripled from February to March, and the national gas average surpassed $4 per gallon, jumping more than 21 percent over the same period.
“We had record distributions in my county in Wyoming of Meals on Wheels, which is an indication that more and more people are turning...to subsidized food opportunities,” Lummis, 71, told reporters in a video posted by Scott MacFarlane of Meidas Touch.
“So, I’m worried, and I admit that,” she said. “But for now, I have patience.”
Meals on Wheels is a nonprofit that provides food and in-person check-ins to the nearly 14 million seniors who face food insecurity.
The organization opposes Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which “once again shortchanges vulnerable older Americans,” President and CEO Ellie Hollander and National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs Executive Director Bob Blancato said in a statement.
“Flat funding has, yet again, been designated for the Older Americans Act (OAA) Nutrition Program, despite current levels leaving at least 2.5 million low-income, food insecure seniors without the meals and services they need,” they said.
“And, when you factor in how skyrocketing costs for food and fuel mean that local providers can serve fewer seniors with the same funding year over year, especially recently, this represents a further cut in purchasing power.”
Lummis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast about whether she supports that aspect of Trump’s budget. Lummis is not up for re-election in the November midterms, since she decided last December to retire.
When reached for comment about Meals on Wheels’ opposition to Trump’s budget, the White House referred the Daily Beast to the Office of Management and Budget. Communications Director Rachel Cauley told the Daily Beast: “If you read the budget you’d know there are no cuts to Meals on Wheels.” The statement from Meals on Wheels leaders said the unchanged funding amount “represents a further cut in purchasing power,” not a dollar-amount cut.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Trump’s director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, was questioned about Americans’ economic anxieties. In one part of his response, Hassett told the public to “imagine” what it would be like if “oil prices start going back down because the situation resolves itself, somehow.”
