Urge your Senators and Representatives to oppose any proposals that would change SNAP’s structure or reduce funding, restrict eligibility or reduce benefits. Congress should strengthen, not weaken SNAP, including the President’s proposal to restore the cut in the ARRA boost.
FRAC has identified SNAP as one of the seven strategies essential to meeting the goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015. The Farm Bill is an opportunity to make needed improvements to SNAP that would help America reach that goal.
The bill passed on May 10 includes a nearly $36 billion cut to SNAP. No SNAP household would be spared from seeing its benefits reduced, and millions would be forced out of the program. More…
Farm Bill Resources
Energy Assistance and SNAP Standard Utility Allowances (SUAs) in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s 2012 Farm Bill (pdf) (Congressional Research Service, May 2012)
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) Sense of the Senate Amendment
SNAP Cuts = Cuts in Meals for Americans Struggling To Heat and Eat
FRAC’s Analysis of the Farm Bill Senate Mark (pdf)
SNAP/Food Stamp Support Letters:
Congressional:
Share DeLauro/McGovern letter (pdf) in support of SNAP. Download an alphabetical list of signers (pdf).Share Gillibrand letter (pdf) asking that SNAP and other low-income programs be protected in any deficit reduction plan.
Organizations:
State Organization Sign On Letters Supporting SNAPJoin 2700 Organizations Supporting SNAP
Sign and send the SNAP program support letter to your network.
Every five years, Congress renews the Farm Bill, a comprehensive piece of legislation that includes farm and agricultural policies and that also includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The last Farm Bill was passed in 2008. It made several improvements to help the tens of millions of people in this country who are struggling against hunger and trying to stretch limited budgets to buy healthy food.
On April 26, The Senate Agriculture Committee passed their farm bill, the ‘Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012.’ The final vote was 16-5 of all committee members including those voting by proxy, 12 to 4 among those present. The bill includes a $4.49 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by limiting states’ ability to operate “Heat and Eat” policies (pdf).
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) released her 2012 Farm Bill mark which we understand includes a $4 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by limiting states’ ability to operate “Heat and Eat” policies (pdf). This cut would mean less food in the refrigerator for already hungry families.
The cut would limit states’ ability to coordinate the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and SNAP benefits, and counterintuitively, reduce SNAP benefits for households eligible for but receiving the smallest, least adequate LIHEAP benefits. Currently, the District of Columbia and 14 states (CT, ME, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, PA, RI, VT, WA, WI) implement “Heat and Eat” policies, with California soon to join them.
On April 18, The House Agriculture Committee voted to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by more than $33 billion – a cut that spares no household from seeing its benefits reduced and that would result in millions of low-income people being forced out of the program. More…
SNAP not only provides much-needed support for vulnerable Americans, but also gives a significant boost to the economy. An increase of $1 billion in SNAP spending generates as many as 17,900 full-time jobs. Read the JEC press release and download the report (pdf).
Letters signed by Senators (pdf) and Representatives (pdf) call for sufficient Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding, and urge distribution of benefits as winter approaches. Many Americans, struggling financially during this period of high employment and a sluggish economy, are finding themselves forced to choose between paying for food or paying for energy.
The Senate defeated Amendment #810 by a vote of 58-41 late on Thursday, October 20. The amendment, offered by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), to the FY2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill, would have eliminated categorical eligibility for SNAP. Such a cut would have taken 1 million needy people from more than 40 states out of the SNAP program, taken free school breakfast and lunch away from 200,000 low-income children, increased hunger among children and seniors alike, and vastly increased state administrative costs and red tape.
See how your Senator voted. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) was the only Democrat to vote yes. Several Republicans voted against the amendment, including Senators Brown (MA), Coats (IN), Cochran (MS), Collins (ME), Lugar (MS), Rubio (FL), and Snowe (ME). If your Senator opposed the Sessions amendment, make sure to thank him/her for this commitment to SNAP.
Subscribe to RSS feed
