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.
An archive of this webinar is available here.
Child Lead Poisoning: Preventable Harm
A Webinar co-sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs, First Focus, Children’s Leadership Council, Partnership for America’s Children, MomsRising, and the National Head Start Association
Tuesday, May 3, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET
The lead poisoning of children (and adults) in Flint, Michigan has focused the nation’s attention on the terrible human cost of allowing contamination of our water supply. We have since learned that lead in water affects many communities nationwide, and that lead from paint in older buildings is an even more prevalent source of child poisoning. We have known about this for a long time, and steps to reduce the lead around us in previous decades have dramatically reduced the number of children suffering from lead poisoning. But reduced investments by local, state, and federal governments have slowed our progress and brought preventable harm to more than half a million U.S. children.
This webinar will provide expert evidence about the consequences of lead poisoning in children, examples of work being done in Flint and Philadelphia to stop this scourge, and timely information about Congressional proposals to fund the solutions.
Speakers include:
Dr. Jennifer A. Lowry, MD, a pediatrician and national expert on medical toxicology, including lead poisoning, practicing at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO. She directs the Mid-America Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PESHU) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 and serves as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Environmental Health.
Colleen McCauley, Health Policy Director at Public Citizens for Children and Youth in Pennsylvania. She works on child health policies, with special emphasis on low-income and undocumented children in the metro Philadelphia area. Prior to joining PCCY in 2001, Colleen was a nurse and former Assistant Director of the Abbottsford Community Health Center in Philadelphia.
Moderator:
Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs.