In the car with a congresswoman: Stansbury sees senior food insecurity as a major concern

Rep. Melanie Stansbury became teary-eyed examining the cat food at Meals on Wheels New Mexico headquarters last week.

Her mother died a few months ago and had adopted two cats during her last Christmas.

A few years ago, Stansbury found out her mom needed to visit a food bank.

“And to find out that my own mother — I’m a member of Congress — was food insecure, and she didn’t feel like she could ask for help. You know, it just was devastating,” Stansbury said.

“Senior food insecurity, I think, is the most silent epidemic that our state is facing, because probably everybody in their life has a senior who’s food insecure and they don’t even know.”

Along with hot and frozen meals, and daily newspapers, Meals on Wheels also brings participants pet food and care items and offers mobile grooming and veterinary services.

Stansbury represents much of central New Mexico including most of Albuquerque, Torrance, Guadalupe, De Baca and Lincoln counties, and parts of Chavez and Otero counties. All three of New Mexico’s House representatives are running for reelection this year.

This week, Stansbury’s agenda included visiting Rio Rancho for a small-business discussion, a Meals on Wheels ride along, a housing roundtable in Valencia County and, on Friday, an Instagram live discussion with Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium co-founder Tina Cordova.

Meals on Wheels relies on 120 volunteers to bring meals to people in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Corrales and ships frozen meals statewide. They offer eight kinds of meals, including medically tailored options for conditions like diabetes or renal failure.

The cost of meals is on a sliding scale based on income, and 50% of the meals they deliver are free, said Shauna Frost, Meals on Wheels New Mexico chief executive officer. New Mexico is second in the nation for senior food insecurity, Frost said.

The federal government could do more to address food insecurity, according to Stansbury.

“Part of what we have to do is not only protect Social Security, but increase Social Security, because part of what we’re seeing is that so many of our seniors are just struggling to get by with the most basic needs,” Stansbury said.

Congress is still working to pass the Farm Bill, which includes nutrition assistance programs. Stansbury expects the bill, much delayed by the chaotic budget negotiations and many continuing resolutions, to pass at the end of the year.

“My number one ask for the Farm Bill was to increase (The Emergency Food Assistance Program) funding, which is the funding that funds the food banks,” Stansbury said. In district listening sessions, she heard constituents ask for more funding for TFAP, along with ranch and conservation support programs.

One of the meal recipients asked Stansbury to do more to address the needs of Downwinders in New Mexico. A measure to expand the existing Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include New Mexicans who got sick from being downwind of nuclear testing was cut from a military budget bill in December.

“The Freedom Caucus is blocking any new spending right now, and so we think what happened is that they were like, ‘Oh, what’s this new spending portion of the bill?’ And so they slashed i,” Stansbury said. “If a budget omnibus comes together, that’s the next play. So, (Sen. Martin) Heinrich is working on that right now.”