Cuts to SNAP. Threats to housing. Stock buybacks for corporations. While Senators and Representatives are home this week, advocates are making their voices heard at events and in-district meetings. Those who care about human needs also preparing for Congress’s return to D.C. next week and the flurry of legislative activity that is set to follow. Because there’s so much going on, we want to highlight some of the important resources CHN’s members are putting out on these issues.

The House is expected to take up the Farm Bill – with many harmful cuts and changes to SNAP/food stamps – late in the week of May 7 or during the week of May 14. Many of CHN’s members are working on stopping these cuts to SNAP, the country’s most effective anti-hunger program.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has new fact sheets showing the impact of proposed SNAP cuts on children, low-income women, and people with disabilities. The Food Research & Action Center has an analysis of the bill, an interactive mapping tool showing the importance of SNAP in your district/state, and tools to help you take action. Feeding America is hosting a call-in day to urge members of Congress to reject cuts and dangerous changes to SNAP; you can join by calling 888-398-8702 on Tuesday, May 8. You can tweet your opposition using #HandsOffSNAP. Along with these groups, CHN recently hosted a webinar on strategies to stop bad SNAP proposals; a recording and slides are available here. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has pieces on how the Farm Bill will hurt workers and states, and the National Women’s Law Center lays out the many ways the bill will harm women and families. CHN is also compiling resources from many other members on our Protecting Basic Needs Programs issue page and will be sending out additional information; stay tuned to your inbox for more.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition and state partners are holding more than 90 events and activities during its Our Homes, Our Voices National Housing Week of Action, currently underway from May 1 to May 8. During this week, advocates will make the case for why Congress needs to increase investments for affordable housing rather than cut housing benefits, impose work requirements, or increase rents on many of the lowest income families and individuals as the Trump Administration has proposed. Check out NLIHC’s campaign page for information on events, their resource page for more tools, fact sheets, and materials, and join NLIHC’s webinar on May 10 to learn more about current proposals to cut housing benefits.

New data compiled by Americans for Tax Fairness show that corporate stock buybacks under the Trump tax cuts passed last year have climbed to $387 billion – 58 times the amount corporations are giving workers through one-time bonuses or pay increases. Apple, in one egregious example, recently announced a $100 billion stock buyback program, which is 333 times more than the $300 million it has promised workers in one-time bonuses. This is further evidence that the tax cuts will benefit the wealthy and corporations – the richest 10 percent of people own 84 percent of stocks – rather than middle- and lower-income Americans. You can find these and other new details about how corporations are spending their tax cuts at ATF’s Trump Tax Cut Truth’s website.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in partnership with the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, has several fact sheets covering the importance of a fair and accurate count in the 2020 Census for specific hard-to-count communities, including communities of color, low-income households, immigrant, and young children. The Census has historically undercounted these communities at disproportionately high rates, which deprives these communities of needed resources and representation. To make matters worse, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced on March 26 that the Trump administration intends to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, which many believe will discourage immigrants from returning the Census form and worsen the undercount of already-undercounted populations. For more information, see CHN’s March 27 Human Needs Report. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the 2020 Census on May 8.