ACTION: The House is expected to vote on a nutrition bill as early as Wednesday, September 18! E-mail or call your Representative and urge him or her to oppose the $40 billion in drastic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamps). Tell your Representative a nutrition bill that would remove 4 to 6 million vulnerable people from the program violates our commitment to the common good. At a time of continued high unemployment these harmful cuts and changes will increase hunger among children, poor families, vulnerable seniors and workers who are underemployed or unable to find employment. Faith communities and charities cannot meet the needs of so many hungry people in our country by themselves.
Tell your Representative:
- Oppose the proposed $40 billion in harmful cuts and changes to SNAP in the House nutrition bill;
- Oppose proposals to cut SNAP benefits to people who have at some point in their lives committed certain serious crimes and have paid their debt to society. People and their families should not pay for the sins of the past;
- Oppose proposals that limit people’s access to food stamps by preventing states from effectively responding to local needs and economic conditions;
- Those who receive benefits such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) should also be able to receive food stamps to meet their needs without additional bureaucracy or paperwork. (Also known as “categorical eligibility”).
CURRENT SITUATION: In July, the House passed a version of the Farm Bill that removed SNAP (food stamps) and other nutrition programs from the Farm Bill. Next week, the House could vote on a bill that includes $40 billion in cuts and structural changes to SNAP that, if passed, would have serious and harmful impacts on the most hungry and vulnerable seniors, children, and unemployed in our country. Congress should consider finding savings in the Farm Bill by ending direct payments and prioritizing agriculture subsidies in a way that helps farmers and ranchers most in need, rather than benefits large industrial agriculture.
USCCB POSITION/CHURCH TEACHING: The “scandal of hunger” which Pope Francis has addressed, and the struggle that many poor, underemployed and unemployed people continue to face in our nation, demands we respond by turning away from indifference. At World Youth Day, 2013, Pope Francis called for, “those in possession of greater resources, to public authorities and to all people of good will who are working for social justice: never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity! No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world!”
Your voice is needed now to ensure that SNAP benefits are protected to feed and protect poor, hungry and vulnerable people.
Look up your Representative’s number and call today!
E-mail your Representative now!
Thank you for your continued dedication and advocacy.
