USDA’s Proposed SNAP Rule Will Arbitrarily Limit States’ Ability to Provide Benefits, Increasing Hunger and Poverty
The Trump Administration’s proposed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rule would diminish food assistance for unemployed and underemployed people in areas with insufficient jobs; undo long-settled regulations; cynically attempt to end run Congress; and increase hunger and nutrition-related diseases.
President Signs Farm Bill
President Trump signed the Farm Bill into law on December 20. Read FRAC’s analysis. The final Farm Bill conference report was filed the evening of Monday, December 10. On December 11, the Senate passed the conference report, 87-13. The House passed the bill on December 12 by a vote of 369-47. Check out FRAC’s statement.
Thank you for taking action to protect immigrant families
The public comment period on the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed public charge rule is now closed. Thanks in part to the efforts of anti-hunger and nutrition stakeholders, more than 210,000 comments on the rule were submitted. Stay tuned for updates on the rulemaking process and see FRAC’s public charge resource page to learn more about continued action to protect immigrant families.
What Every Policymaker Should Know About Hunger
Even though the 2018 elections are over, FRAC’s one-stop-shop for anti-hunger advocates provides the facts and tools needed to ensure every candidate-turned-lawmaker knows about the extent of hunger in America and the solutions that exist to solve it.
ON THE HILL
- 2018 Farm Bill letter to House and Senate Budget and Appropriations CommitteesFRAC is proud to have played a leadership role in developing and garnering support for this letter (pdf) urging the House and Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees not to “hinder development and passage of the 2018 Farm Bill with further cuts.”
- SNAP Support Letters
Take Action
FRAC Response to Dangerous House FY2018 Budget Resolution - Advocates Urged to Take Immediate Action
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Read FRAC’s Farm Bill Primer
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Prohibit Lunch Shaming: Endorse S. 1064 and H.R. 2401
Organizations: Take action here
Organize a Site Visit
Read MoreThe Anti-Lunch Shaming Act of 2017
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Recent Publications & Data
See More Resources- Advocacy Tool
Restoring the value of the minimum wage — and helping families cover basic needs — is essential to addressing hunger. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not increased since 2009. A more adequate minimum wage would foster the nation’s economic strength and growth to be shared in more equitable ways. Low-income workers and their families would benefit the most from a higher minimum wage, leading to reduced poverty, hunger, and income inequality.
From FRAC, the Economic Policy Institute, and the National Employment Law Project.
Read more - Report
The monthly benefits provided by SNAP enhance the foodpurchasing power of eligible low-income individuals and families. However, as described by many studies, including one by the Institute of Medicine, the greatest shortcoming of SNAP is that benefits for most households are not enough to get through the entire month without hunger or being forced to sacrifice nutrition quality. This limitation persists even in the face of overwhelming evidence on the gains from more adequate monthly SNAP benefits.
This paper briefly analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and concludes with some of the key policy solutions that can improve benefit adequacy.
Read the report - Advocacy Tool
More than 40 million Americans are living in households that are food insecure. Even as the economy has improved, millions of families have been left behind, and the need for food assistance remains high. Congress should deepen its historically bipartisan commitment to programs that provide food assistance to vulnerable low-income households by protecting the structure of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the other federal nutrition programs, and by sufficiently funding them to address hunger in America.
Read more - Advocacy Tool
On February 1, USDA published a Proposed Rule on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Requirements for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents RIN 0584-AE57. That rule, if adopted, would make changes to SNAP that Congress specifically declined to make in the recently enacted 2018 Farm Bill. The proposed changes would decrease state flexibility, harm local economies, and increase hunger. They should be rejected.
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National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) is a weeklong celebration of the nation’s School Breakfast Program, which provides more than 14.6 million children — five out of six of them low-income — a nutritious morning meal each day. This year’s NSBW takes place March 4–8, 2019, which means it is time for schools to start planning NSBW celebrations to raise awareness about the benefits of participating in the School Breakfast Program.
FRAC released the latest version of its annual School Breakfast Scorecard, which measures the reach of the federal School Breakfast Program nationally and in each state during the 2017–2018 school year.
From policy wonks to health professionals to grassroots advocates to anti-hunger program service providers, the conference will have something for everyone, ensuring that every attendee will return home with new skills, resources, and tools to use in the fight to end hunger. See below for just a few examples of what’s in store (and be sure to view the full conference agenda).