Congress must reject any and all funding cuts to essential nutrition programs
If the Farm Bill to be considered in the House Committee on Agriculture on May 23 becomes law, it will mean a cut of nearly $30 billion in future SNAP benefits over a decade.
Such cuts are unconscionable. For many children, they will make learning more difficult and lead to negative health outcomes. They will force families and older adults to choose between putting food on the table and paying for other expenses such as rent, utility bills, or prescription drugs. They will also harm our economy, removing the stimulative benefits of SNAP and even hurting farmers and ranchers along the way.
SNAP is the most effective anti-hunger program in the U.S. It reduces hunger by 30% and provides nutritious meals to one-quarter of America’s children.
The House bill makes these cuts by limiting the USDA’s ability to update the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines SNAP benefit levels, to reflect the real costs of a nutritious diet, based on science, along with reflecting food prices that remain stubbornly high. This will make it tougher for families experiencing food insecurity as well as the food banks that aid them. These would be the largest cuts to SNAP benefits in almost 30 years if enacted. In addition, these changes will trigger more than $500 million in cuts to Summer EBT, which provides grocery benefits to children in low-income families during the summer when schools are closed, along with $100 million in cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which provides food for food banks and food pantries to distribute to individuals and families.
The House bill also would allow states to let private corporations take over determining eligibility for SNAP. Where this has been tried, replacing merit-based staff resulted in corporate skimping on careful help to people applying for or renewing benefits in order to maximize profits. It would also reverse previously enacted steps to reduce agriculture-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
During this time when many families grapple with the cost of housing and food, Congress must do everything in its power to provide relief to those who need it most.
Click “Start Writing” to send a message to Congress urging them to reject any and all cuts to nutrition programs in the FY2025 Farm Bill.
The Saving Children from Poverty edition. This week’s COVID-19 Watch is all about children. President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, now being turned into legislation in the House, includes provisions that taken together, would cut child poverty in half, according to the Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. And just one of those proposals, the increase in the Child Tax Credit, would have the biggest impact, lifting 40 percent of children out of poverty. That means Congress is now working on a plan that will do immense good.
The cost of college in the U.S. has increased by more than 25 percent in the past ten years. This astonishing figure has left a mounting $1.6 trillion of student debt that affects more than 45 million Americans. This number is expected to surpass $2 trillion during the next four years if tuition increases.
The vaccinations and racial inequality edition. This week, the U.S. crossed an important hurdle in the fight against COVID-19. For the first time, the number of Americans receiving a COVID-19 vaccine exceeds the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. throughout the entire pandemic. But a trove of data released this week shows extreme racial disparities in who is getting the vaccine. White Americans are being vaccinated at rates close to four times as high as Black Americans in Pennsylvania and Florida, even though Black residents in these states are more than twice as likely to die from COVID as white residents. There is no reliable national data.
Some of the latest actions from the Biden administration tackle one of the starkest departures between the current and the previous President — racial equality and xenophobia. Biden issued a series of executive orders addressing long-standing systemic racism, including in areas such as education, housing, and criminal justice. One of these executive orders addresses an unnerving statistic; hate crimes in America rose to the highest level in more than a decade in the past year and the target is overwhelmingly Asian Americans.
President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID relief proposal, known as the “American Rescue Plan” would prevent millions of working families from falling even deeper into poverty. It is desperately needed, because the COVID-recession has resulted in millions of low-income workers losing their jobs, working fewer hours and having to stay home to care for children out of school due to the pandemic.
The K-shaped recovery edition. COVID-19 daily infections are down over the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are down. Deaths are down, slightly. Vaccinations are on the rise – more than 21 million Americans have received their first shot, and the rolling average of shots per day has climbed to over one million. All of which is encouraging news. But the economic news is not so encouraging. New information out this week confirms what many have feared: we are experiencing a K-shaped recovery. The top end of the economy continues to improve while lower earners fall farther and farther behind.
Congress will soon be thick in the debate over whether to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan, or something like it, or something smaller. Opponents are fearful of the size of the package – and let us be clear: $1.9 trillion is a lot of money. But proponents of aggressive stimulus say that is precisely the point. We must go big – or our economic recovery will be far slower than it needs to be. And as we’ve experienced in the past, those with the lowest incomes – disproportionately people of color, families with children, and people with disabilities – will have to wait the longest to see an upturn.
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package and sweeping immigration bill, power struggles in the Senate, and more.
The 100 million vaccinations in 100 days edition. President Biden plans a vigorous response to the coronavirus pandemic. He has proposed a sweeping national plan to make tests and vaccines more abundant, make schools and travel safer, and help states pay for efforts to control the virus. Biden’s strategy includes aggressive use of executive authority to protect workers, advance racial equity, and ramp up the manufacturing of test kits, vaccines, and related supplies. The President envisions the creation of mass vaccination sites, including in stadiums, gyms, and community centers, along with a program to build the public health workforce to help with testing, contact tracing, and outreach.
We welcome President Biden and Vice President Harris with high emotion. We are grieving many losses: people lost to the coronavirus, people lost to racist violence, to too many guns, to overdose, to suicide. President Biden understands our grief and is committed to presiding over a government that strives to lessen its causes. We celebrate President Biden’s swift actions to combat the four intertwined crises of pandemic, economy, systemic racism, and climate. Members of the Coalition on Human Needs are ready to join Americans nationwide to support and advance this essential work.
Eliza Navarro, a nurse in San Benito, Texas didn’t want to leave her job back in April. But when she couldn’t find child care for her two children, home from school because of COVID-19, she felt she had no choice. Like many working mothers, she has felt the pandemic’s blow to America’s already fragile and dysfunctional child care system.
The it’s-always-darkest-before-the-dawn edition. On Thursday, January 14, 238,390 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed – up 27 percent from two weeks prior. An additional 3,973 deaths were reported – up 39 percent from two weeks ago (but down from 4,400 reported on Tuesday, January 12). The national COVID-19 death toll is approaching 400,000. Still, hope is on the horizon in two forms. First, President-elect Biden Thursday evening announced a robust proposal to corral COVID-19 and resurrect our sputtering economy. Also: after a sluggish rollout, reports suggest that the number of vaccines administered daily is on the rise. As of late this week, 28 states plus D.C. were offering the vaccine to Americans 65 years of age and older.
