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.
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The tale of two farm bills edition. One of the most important jobs Congress must accomplish during its remaining time before final adjournment is passage of the 2024 Farm Bill. This legislation – which is scheduled to be renewed every five years – is of utmost importance to human needs advocates because it sets policies and funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s most important and effective tool for fighting hunger.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Child labor violations in the U.S. workforce are sharply on the rise, in part because of some employers seeking to pay workers less in a tight labor market, an increasing number of states rolling back laws protecting children, and an industry-wide effort to eliminate such protections on both the state and federal level.