Increasing hunger is a policy choice. The Big Ugly Bill already imposed the largest SNAP cut in the program’s history, and now, with the shutdown, millions more are at risk of losing access to the nutrition program when funding is depleted in two weeks.
The administration can―and must―take steps to protect SNAP benefits. SNAP running out of money would be catastrophic. Nearly 1 in 8 people, including 16 million children and 8 million people with disabilities, would go without the food assistance they need.
Two-thirds of the money needed to partially fund another month is in SNAP’s contingency fund, which must be used when regular funding falls short. The contingency fund has $6 billion, which is still short of the $8 billion needed to fully fund SNAP recipients per month. The administration can use other measures to ensure families get full November benefits―and they must act ASAP to give states guidance and enough time to get families the help they need to put food on the table.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration, via the United States Department of Agriculture, moved $300 million to WIC, the nutrition program that serves women, infants, and children. It’s time for the administration to do the same for SNAP, by tapping funds that are allowed by law to be used for this purpose.
The National Academy of Social Insurance, with support from Caring Across Generations and the Ford Foundation, recently released a groundbreaking report on Designing Universal Family Care: State-Based Social Insurance Programs for Early Child Care and Education, Paid Family and Medical Leave, and Long-Term Services and Supports. The report explores strategies that states could pursue to better support families in meeting evolving care needs over the lifespan. This analysis was developed over a year of deliberations by a Study Panel of 29 experts in care policy from a variety of perspectives.
In this symposium, Alexandra Bradley (Lead Policy Analyst on the Academy Study Panel) and Benjamin Veghte (Study Panel Director and now Research Director at Caring Across Generations) will identify gaps in our care infrastructure and policy options developed by the Study Panel to address them. Elise Gould (Senior Economist at EPI) will discuss her recently co-authored study on value-based budgeting for California’s early care and education system. And Robert Espinoza (Vice President of Policy at PHI) will report on his research on the relation between quality direct care jobs and quality long-term care and propose standards for direct care jobs and workforce policy.
A light lunch will be served. Your RSVP will help us prepare.
What: Symposium on strategies to meet families’ evolving care needs.
Who: Alexandra Bradley, Caregiving Study Panel project
Benjamin Veghte, Caring Across Generations
Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute
Robert Espinoza, PHI
When: Wednesday, November 6
12 p.m.–1:30 p.m. Eastern
Where: Economic Policy Institute
1225 I St. NW, Suite 600