Jan29
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a long-overdue farm bill on Wednesday that provides nearly $1 trillion for federal agriculture and nutrition programs. Far from perfect, this bipartisan legislation signals wins for some and losses for others.
The most notable loss is $8.6 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called food stamps. While these cuts will not directly affect Texans, recipients in other states will see a $90 a month drop in benefits.
America’s food banks, on the other hand, will see an increase in The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which provides federal commodities for food banks to distribute to clients. At the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, TEFAP accounts for about 30 percent of our inventory.
Other helpful provisions of the farm bill include additional dairy products for charities, improved SNAP access for homebound and the disabled and funding to help SNAP recipients return to work.
Overall, the outcome of the farm bill debates could have been far worse. But we hunger relief advocates know there’s much more work to be done. It seems the fate of our nutrition safety net is always uncertain. The federal programs so many of our friends and neighbors depend on are constantly under fire from critics perpetuating myths about fraud, waste and abuse—who deserves assistance and who doesn’t.
In a perfect world, all people would have the means and opportunity to feed themselves and their families. But we do not live in a perfect world. We produce more than enough food to feed the world, and yet people in this country, in your town, go hungry. We find the highest rates of chronic, diet-related disease in our lowest income neighborhoods. Federal nutrition programs cannot correct these disparities, but to lose them would be disastrous.
As we look forward to the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the next big debate on the horizon, we urge our leaders to positively address the root causes of hunger, instead of fighting over cuts to the safety net. Let’s encourage our leaders to treat hunger holistically, protecting nutrition programs while addressing long-term challenges—stronger schools, improved job training, secure employment with livable wages and affordable housing. This is how we will end hunger—a win for everyone.
The most notable loss is $8.6 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called food stamps. While these cuts will not directly affect Texans, recipients in other states will see a $90 a month drop in benefits.
America’s food banks, on the other hand, will see an increase in The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which provides federal commodities for food banks to distribute to clients. At the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, TEFAP accounts for about 30 percent of our inventory.
Other helpful provisions of the farm bill include additional dairy products for charities, improved SNAP access for homebound and the disabled and funding to help SNAP recipients return to work.
Overall, the outcome of the farm bill debates could have been far worse. But we hunger relief advocates know there’s much more work to be done. It seems the fate of our nutrition safety net is always uncertain. The federal programs so many of our friends and neighbors depend on are constantly under fire from critics perpetuating myths about fraud, waste and abuse—who deserves assistance and who doesn’t.
In a perfect world, all people would have the means and opportunity to feed themselves and their families. But we do not live in a perfect world. We produce more than enough food to feed the world, and yet people in this country, in your town, go hungry. We find the highest rates of chronic, diet-related disease in our lowest income neighborhoods. Federal nutrition programs cannot correct these disparities, but to lose them would be disastrous.
As we look forward to the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, the next big debate on the horizon, we urge our leaders to positively address the root causes of hunger, instead of fighting over cuts to the safety net. Let’s encourage our leaders to treat hunger holistically, protecting nutrition programs while addressing long-term challenges—stronger schools, improved job training, secure employment with livable wages and affordable housing. This is how we will end hunger—a win for everyone.
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