Three dozen groups advocating for older Americans this week delivered a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees expressing concern about possible cuts to SNAP. Advocates delivered the letter as the House Agriculture Committee prepared to begin their Thursday markup of the Farm Bill, which policy experts say could cut nearly $30 billion from SNAP over a 10-year period.
Archives: Voices
Coalition on Human Needs: House Farm Bill is a cruel and inhumane blueprint for increasing hunger in America
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 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 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.
A celebration of the Supreme Court decision in favor of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by CHN’s Executive Director Deborah Weinstein
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been fighting effectively against the old saying, “the poor pay more.” So the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision against a suit brought by the payday loan trade association is really a cause for celebration. CFPB has reined in many fees and overcharges that disproportionately hit people with low incomes, saving consumers billions of dollars.
Child labor violations are on the rise. The Department of Labor is responding.
As incidents of child exploitation in the workforce skyrocket, the U.S. Department of Labor this month announced yet another large fine – this time, against a cleaning company that illegally supplied at least two dozen children to work overnight in slaughterhouses and meatpacking facilities in Iowa and Virginia. Fayette Janitorial Service LLC has agreed to pay $649,000 after DOL investigators found it sent workers as young as 13 into plants to scrub razor-edged machinery with high-powered hoses, scalding water, and dangerous chemicals.
Why paid leave is the best Mother’s Day gift.
When it comes to juggling work and family, moms are truly doing it all. Seventy-four percent of mothers were in the labor force in 2023 even as they took on a majority of families’ unpaid caregiving responsibilities. They’re major breadwinners too – nationally, 79 percent of Black mothers, 48 percent of white mothers, 43 percent of Asian and Pacific Island mothers, 49 percent of Latina mothers and 64 percent of Native American mothers lead their household’s earnings.
I run a food pantry but it’s not enough. We need funding for SNAP.
I run a food pantry. I’m proud of the work we do. But if lawmakers passed a liveable minimum wage or invested more in programs like SNAP, people wouldn’t need to rely on pantries like mine. Pantries are a critical piece of the anti-hunger puzzle, but they’re filler pieces. Government nutrition programs — with the infrastructure and funding to get the job done — should be the centerpiece.
698 groups tell appropriators: Invest in Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education needs
This week, almost 700 local, state, and national groups urged Congressional leaders to adequately fund programs included under the purview of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations subcommittees. The 698 groups, noting a previously enacted stringent cap on non-defense discretionary spending (aka, annual appropriations) for fiscal year 2025, urged that committee members avoid imposing “additional cuts for the necessary services this subcommittee oversees, and that funding is found to respond to urgent needs.”
Groups urge Senate to act on expanded Child Tax Credit before the end of May
More than 80 groups this week urged Senate leaders to take up the proposed expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) during the current congressional work period, which runs until late May. The groups, including the Coalition on Human Needs, signed a letter urging that the expanded CTC either be taken up as stand-alone legislation, or be attached as an amendment to must-pass legislation such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act, whose deadline is Friday, May 10, although that could be extended.
Congress must reject xenophobic and unconstitutional attack on the Census today
We at the Coalition on Human Needs strongly urge the House to reject H.R. 7109, an unconstitutional bill which would require the Census Bureau to ask about citizenship in the decennial census and apportion House seats only based on citizens.
CHN’s Human Needs Watch: Tracking Hardship, May 3, 2024
The IRS is improving edition. Back in 2022, as part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Internal Revenue Service received an additional $80 billion over a decade to modernize. $20 billion of that money was “clawed back” as a result of an agreement between Republicans and the White House to suspend the national debt limit and prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its financial obligations. Now some in Congress would like to see the agency’s budget shrink further, not grow. But the facts are in as to how the IRS is making use of its new funds – and the news is good, particularly for taxpayers with modest incomes.
Collected: 16,512 long-sleeve, lightly colored shirts to protect farmworkers from excessive heat, pesticide exposure
Each year in the U.S., tens if not hundreds of thousands of farmworkers are exposed to dangerous pesticides while working crop productions. The exact number is not known – years back, the Centers for Disease Control reported that diagnosed cases of sickness from pesticide poisoning range from 10,000 to 20,000 annually. And many more workers are exposed to excessive heat.
Advocates celebrate new rules governing nursing homes, home care: ‘This is about dignity’
Care advocates across the nation this week are celebrating two new Biden Administration rules aimed at improving care in nursing homes and raising the salaries of home and community-based workers after years of organizing by patients, care workers, and their allies.