FRAC Chat

More than 50 years have passed since the United States convened the White House conference that helped elevate hunger as a national priority and sparked major improvements and expansions to the federal nutrition programs.

This September, the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health will take place with the goal of ending hunger. Read FRAC’s strategies on how to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030.  In addition, FRAC, along with other anti-hunger organizations underscored five priorities for the conference. 

To ensure these priorities and strategies are put into the forefront during the conference, FRAC nominated several people to speak about their lived experiences with hunger during a series of virtual, regional listening sessions hosted by the White House. In this blog series, read the remarks from some of these advocates. 

Here are the remarks from Benyamin Chao.

On June 25, the Keep Kids Fed Act was signed into law, giving U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the temporary authority to extend many of the nationwide child nutrition waivers that have been so important during the pandemic. These waivers were set to expire on June 30 without Congressional action.

An overview of what the act will mean for summer 2022 as well as school and afterschool meals during the 2022-2023 school year is detailed in this blog.

The Budget Reconciliation currently being negotiated in the Senate presents an important opportunity to ensure that children can access the healthy food they need at school and during the summer. There are three provisions that Congress should include in the Budget Reconciliation to support children, families, and schools in the upcoming 2022–2023 school year and moving forward.

Currently, New Jersey is among the majority of states that have continued to leverage SNAP Emergency Allotments (EAs) to boost SNAP benefits for all SNAP households during COVID-19. When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration (PHE) expires, however, such EAs will end. With EAs in place, minimum monthly benefit households are receiving $250 a month. They will face a precipitous “hunger cliff” when the PHE expires. State supplemental funding such as that enacted in New Jersey’s legislation is one step that states can take to help mitigate the harsh impact of loss of EAs.

New Jersey has enacted legislation (Bill A-2366) that will bring the minimum SNAP benefit to $50 a month for those SNAP participants aged 60 or older or who have disabilities. The regular federal SNAP minimum benefit is a mere $20 a month. New Jersey will fund the difference between $50 and the amount for which elderly persons and persons with disabilities qualify under regular federal calculations. The state’s investment is an estimated $18 million. Other jurisdictions that provide funding to supplement SNAP minimum benefits for those who are elderly or have disabilities are the District of Columbia, Maryland, and New Mexico.

July 2022 marks the 32nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signing, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life. The ADA’s protections have contributed to greater equity for people with disabilities but much more is needed to achieve disability economic justice.

A paper released this spring by The Century Foundation, FRAC, and other founding members of the Disability Economic Justice Collaborative (DEJC) points to disparate rates of food insufficiency among people with disabilities and explains the importance of strengthening the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as part of a comprehensive strategy to promote disability economic justice.