Resource Library

Utilize this Joint Statement by National Organizations and Farm Bill Stakeholder Groups in Support of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), signed by nearly 225 national organizations and entities, in your Farm Bill advocacy to protect and strengthen the program.

Signed by over 900 national, state, and local organizations, FRAC’s sign-on letter urges Congressional leadership to aggressively pursue and reach a bipartisan agreement this calendar year on Child Nutrition Reauthorization and ensure that the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is updated and strengthened to reflect the program’s pressing needs.

Signed by over 500 national, state, and local organizations, FRAC’s sign-on letter urges Congressional leadership to reinstate the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in any end of the year tax package. 

In this sign-on letter, FRAC and other national anti-hunger organizations call on Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) to expand the Community Eligibility Provision in the upcoming Senate version of Child Nutrition Reauthorization.  

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act
authorizes all of the federal child nutrition programs.
The child nutrition programs reach millions of
children each day and improve educational achievement,
economic security, nutrition, and health. Although most of
the programs are permanently authorized, about every
five years, Congress reviews the laws governing these
programs through the reauthorization process.

The federal nutrition programs are a critical safety net for tens of millions of struggling households — including individuals of all ages — by helping them put food on the table during times of need. Investing in hunger prevention and relief makes good fiscal sense.

Congress should again protect SNAP’s structure and funding, and Congress should strengthen SNAP by adopting provisions contained in the bills listed in the attachment.

The Farm Bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation that authorizes most federal policies governing
food and agriculture programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
formerly known as Food Stamps. Approximately every five years, Congress reauthorizes the Farm Bill. Reauthorization offers policy makers an opportunity to review the programs included in the legislation, consider programmatic changes, and address implementation barriers that may have come up since the
previous reauthorization. With the 2018 Farm Bill set to expire on September 30, 2023, discussions about the Farm Bill are beginning already.

The next pandemic relief legislation passed by Congress must ensure that children can access the healthy food they need through child nutrition programs, including at school and during the summer. The following three provisions designed to support economic recovery and provide pandemic relief recently came close to being enacted and now must be included in the next piece of legislation.

Congress must enact a child nutrition reauthorization bill that strengthens program access and supports participation by underserved children, ensures nutrition quality, and simplifies program administration and operation. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of the federal child nutrition programs, and several policy improvements that were made during COVID-19 should be implemented permanently by Congress. The reauthorization also should build on the critical gains — which improved access and nutrition — that were made in the last reauthorization.

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act authorizes all of the federal child nutrition programs.
The child nutrition programs reach millions of children each day and improve educational achievement,
economic security, nutrition, and health. Although most of the programs are permanently authorized, about every five years, Congress reviews the laws governing these programs through the reauthorization process. 

During the pandemic, the Pandemic EBT program has been a vital nutrition resource for families whose children lost access to free or reduced-price school meals due to school closures. This gap extends to the summer as well. With the limited reach of the Summer Nutrition Programs, there is a need for a complementary program to provide EBT benefits during the summer. This storybook gives a brief background of Pandemic EBT and Summer EBT, what actions are needed to make a Summer EBT program permanent, and, as told in the words of people who benefit from federal nutrition assistance, why this is so important.

Congress has an important opportunity in 2021 to improve the health of millions of our nation’s children by passing a strong reauthorization bill that protects and strengthens the child nutrition programs. These successful, cost-effective federal nutrition programs play a critical role in helping children in low-income families get access to child care, as well as to educational and enrichment activities, while improving their overall nutrition, health, development, and academic achievement.

Even before COVID-19, more than 35 million people in the United States were living in households experiencing food insecurity. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Feeding America estimates that the number of individuals in food insecure households has risen to more than 45 million. COVID-19’s harsh impact on the economy threatens to persist for years.

Summary of Amendments Submitted to the Rules Committee for the American Rescue Plan.