Republicans in the House and Senate are proposing to slash more than $230 billion from SNAP and school nutrition programs in order to fund more tax handouts for the wealthy and billion-dollar corporations. But it’s far from a done deal.
SNAP is not only our most effective anti-hunger program, it plays a crucial role in reducing poverty and improving health and economic outcomes. It’s also linked to better education outcomes and self-sufficiency, and plays an important role in supporting rural communities.
SNAP is one of the most cost-effective government programs in existence. Every dollar spent on SNAP generates $1.80 in local communities. Cuts to SNAP and school nutrition programs will have devastating consequences for generations to come.
Individual states currently pay a portion of the cost of administering SNAP, while the federal government pays the actual benefits. Implementing a $230 billion cut could force states to take on a portion of the cost of nutrition benefits for the first time, a radical change in the program that could lead to drastic cuts, increasing wait times for approval for benefits, or put a huge squeeze on states leading to slashed investments in other programs.
Cutting SNAP (and Medicaid, another right-wing target) also makes it harder for eligible families to obtain free or reduced-price school meals, summer food assistance for school-aged children (Summer EBT), and WIC benefits. School meal programs and Summer EBT automatically enroll eligible children using SNAP and Medicaid, while WIC agencies use automated systems to check for SNAP or Medicaid eligibility. In addition, the House Budget Committee has put forth numerous specific budget-cutting proposals, including a $12 billion cut to free school breakfast and lunch programs, affecting 24,000 schools nationwide.
Cutting funding for nutrition programs in order to pay for some of Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax handout―mostly to the wealthy and corporations―is an abomination.
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The Coalition on Human Needs is asking local, state, and national groups as well as individuals to become a part of the SAVE for All Campaign. SAVE stands for Strengthening America’s Values and Economy for All. SAVE for All is a campaign of thousands of national, state, and local organizations working to protect important services from harmful federal budget cuts and to save the federal capacity to spur economic recovery and progress for the benefit of all.
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for a breakdown of what’s in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan and FY22 budget request, a hate crimes bill moving in Congress, and more.
The infrastructure is more than roads and bridges edition. Infrastructure can be physical – roads, bridges, housing, broadband, and safe water, for example. But we also must invest in human infrastructure – care work and job training are prime examples. As the U.S. begins what experts fear could be a long and arduous trek to economic recovery, we have important choices to make. Will we go small, essentially applying a band-aid or two to an economy ravaged by pandemic and recession? Or will we make the sound and robust investments we need to rebuild in a way that would promote opportunity and racial and gender equality and make the post-World War II generations proud? The choice is ours. The path we choose will say much about who we are and our aspirations as a potentially great nation.
In 1992, the year Bill Clinton was elected President, the U.S. was struggling to emerge from the worst recession in a decade. But even before Clinton was a blip on any political pundit’s radar screen, something significant happened, the ramifications of which are about to be experienced – and in a very good way. In 1991, the bipartisan National Commission on Children recommended a $1,000 annual tax credit for every child through age 18 in response to slow wage growth, higher costs of living, and a growing tax burden for average households. Even families that earned too little to owe federal income taxes would get the refundable credit.
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A basic income pilot in Stockton, California provided $500 monthly payments to 125 residents with no strings attached. From improved family wellbeing and financial stability to an increase in full-time employment, these positive impacts hold hope for the refundable Child Tax Credit (CTC).
A Black U.S. public school student was suspended every four seconds in 2019, based on a 180-day school year. Every 28 seconds, a Latinx student dropped out of high school. And every 33 minutes, An American Indian/Alaskan Native student was arrested. Those are just some nuggets of information included in the latest State of America’s Children report, an annual report published by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF).
President Biden is right to call for a “once-in-a-generation investment” to assure that we can build a lasting economic recovery. Our nation has been buffeted by multiple emergencies in the past year, including the pandemic, natural disasters, and electrical grid failure. They have all shown how unprepared we are to protect our people, our businesses, and our environment. We cannot prevent every emergency, but we can and must protect against loss of life and economic catastrophe for millions of people. We can and must make ourselves more resilient.
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As a number of swing and Republican-leaning states rush to consider legislation that would make it harder to cast ballots, pro-voter advocates increasingly are calling for corporations to weigh in against the measures – and are urging boycotts if they don’t. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, as of Feb. 19, 2021, legislators in 43 states have carried over, prefiled, or introduced more than 250 bills that would make it harder to vote – more than seven times the number of restrictive bills compared to roughly this time last year.
The first time, Davida’s boyfriend hit her, she did exactly what experts say a person in her situation should do: she called the police. The 38-year-old North Carolina woman left the apartment they shared, filed a complaint in court, and obtained a protective order. Today, with the help of a career-readiness program at Sanctuary for Families, a shelter and service provider, Davida has succeeded in turning an internship into a part-time job. But a year after her boyfriend upended Davida and her son’s lives with a single wanton act of violence, she and her son are still homeless. “Every day I wake up, I’m starting over,” she said.
White students are much more likely to be receiving in-person learning than minority students, revealing yet another form of racial disparity during the pandemic, stark new data released this week show. The U.S. Department of Education this week released the first in a series of school surveys aimed at providing a national view of learning during the pandemic. The survey showed that the percentage of students still attending school virtually may be higher than previously thought.