Last week, the House of Representatives surprised itself and others by voting down the Farm Bill. The House version of the Farm Bill proposed cutting food stamps (SNAP) by $2 billion per year over the next ten years. So, voting it down was a good thing. Children and the elderly comprise the major recipients.

The bill’s demise was due to controversy regarding SNAP. Some representatives could not abide the deep cuts – and had proposed amendments to reduce them (these did not pass). Other representatives wanted the SNAP cuts to be far deeper. Then Representative Southerland (FL) got an amendment passed requiring that any able-bodied person applying for SNAP must be employed, or actively seeking employment – even a single mother with toddlers, many persons with disabilities, and many seniors.

This seemed to be the final nail to kill the bill.

Now, Rep. Southerland is proposing that the bill come back to the House floor, minus his amendment. That does not resolve the terrible cuts to the program, which would effectively cut $90 per month from the average SNAP payment, and eliminate many families entirely. Additionally, the bill as it is would deny school meal programs for as many as millions of children next school year. Free and reduced lunches are tied to SNAP.

What are we doing to our next generation of leaders if we are starving our children (about 25% received SNAP)? And, how are we thanking our elders for all they have provided to us?

The Farm Bill is currently on the floor in the Senate. Yesterday (May 21) was not a good day for hungry people.

The Senate voted down an amendment by Senator Gillibrand (26-70, with 4 not voting) to restore the $4.1 billion cut from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This would have been offset by a small cut in the payments to crop insurance companies as reimbursement for benefits paid to farmers for crop damage. The reduction in their profits would have been 2%, from 14% profit to 12% profit. It would not interfere with the benefits paid to farmers to compensate for damages.

The Farm Bill continues today to be bombarded with amendments to further erode nutritional help to those whose resources prohibit their purchase of healthier foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables – which most of us take for granted in our grocery shopping. The loss of SNAP also means that children in families denied SNAP benefits will be denied free school meals – jeopardizing their ability to reach their best potential.

Where I am

This summer I am interning with NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby. As a social work major, I wanted to look at the big picture and attempt to solve issues for people using policy. It has been an incredible experience and I have learned so much. Even after the first week, I had a deeper understanding of policy and how it affects the people with whom I have worked in the past. I become involved specifically with SNAP (food stamps) and the attempts to make major cuts to this program.

How I got here

Throughout my years in school, I have grown closer to the homeless population and am connected to many of the shelters in Dubuque, IA (where I attend Loras College). I worked most in a new shelter that was built for women. Seeing all of the women who transitioned in and out of the home (some successful in piecing their life together while others not) made me so thankful for my life and everything I have. A majority of the women were younger than me and hearing their stories showed me that I could have been in that situation and would have been the one who was homeless.

Not all of the women used SNAP to receive food, but hunger was definitely an issue at one point in their life. I cannot even imagine not knowing where your next meal might come from or not eating for a day (let alone missing one meal). When studying social work, I went to the individual level and attempted to help these people get out of poverty and back on their feet. After studying in one policy class I became interested in the idea of helping people on a bigger level.

If I see one person starving on the street, I feed them. If I see millions of American’s starving, I make my way to the source.

Here

I am not a policy expert. In no way am I qualified to run the country or even a district in my state. However, I care about the people who are affected, the people that the big dogs sometimes forget. In an attempt to “do the best for the country” some people chose to cut services to people such as SNAP. As I mentioned before, I am no expert, but it seems pretty obvious to me that not helping people who are in need of that support is probably not the best way to go. How do they believe that this is ok? How do they sleep after writing a bill that would cut $16.5 billion from SNAP while keeping in place tax cuts for the top 2%?

Isolation. I do not believe these are bad people and are laughing when they see people who are starving. They do not want these people to suffer. However, they see these statistics regarding people who use food stamps and the need for them and they think of them as what they are, statistics. These are not political issues; these are humans who need our help and support. I think some people need to be reminded of that and NETWORK is working to tug at the hearts of our country.

Policy is intimidating. However, I read in a book once that policy comes from the Greek word polis, which means city. Community is so important in policy, and that is really all it is.

With all of the Super Committee budget work that is being done in Congress, it is more than important to make sure our country’s politicians do not make cuts in funding to the “SNAP” program*. The program is always in threat of losing funding, and with the recession, we at NETWORK are more concerned than usual about protecting it.

SNAP is the current title of the food stamp program that helps 43 million low-income Americans to afford an adequate diet. For example, one in eight Latinos needs the program. The reason that SNAP becomes an issue during budget organization is because the federal government pays for the full cost of the program. However, it is a necessary program and money well spent. It has been the most responsive federal assistance program and in this economic downturn, it is needed more than ever. In fact, 15.6 million more people have participated in the SNAP program since the recession began in 2008.

The truth is that the amount people get a month averages only about $134. That is basically a dollar a meal. With all the government spends on expensive military operations overseas, that is such a meager cost to feed someone within our own country. Furthermore, SNAP includes employment and training assistance so that people can indeed have some resources to move from government assistance to work. If people do not believe in food stamps, they should visit a food bank or soup kitchen. This is one program that I definitely will never mind my tax dollars going towards.

* The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the name of the Food Stamps program. As noted by the Coalition on Human Needs: “The goal of the program is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by permitting low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet through normal channels of trade.” It provides monthly benefits to eligible low-income families for the purchase of food. These benefits are funded by the federal government, with states providing part of the administrative costs.

As noted in a recent NETWORK blog post from former NETWORK Associate Casey Schoeneberger, “SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) has proven to be the most successful and cost-effective anti-poverty program in the nation, most recently in response to the recession and high unemployment rate. With the current “food insecurity rate” of 1 in 20 families (FRAC, 3/2/11) surely more children and struggling families will go hungry if the Republican Budget Resolution to turn SNAP into a block grant becomes law. The House Republican plan to change SNAP would endanger lives. Not only is an adequate food safety net the most basic support the government and fellow citizens can provide struggling families, but economists agree that food stamps are one of the best known stimulus tools the government can use to spur the economy, adding $1.74 to the economy for every $1.00 spent.”

To access the government website explaining the program click here.

NETWORK is a partner in Fighting Poverty with Faith, is an interfaith effort to call attention to a critical issue that is often neglected: poverty in our country. Since we have just seen the Census data on the dramatic increase in the number of people living in poverty, now is the time to build some political will to do something about it.

The Fighting Poverty with Faith coalition is calling for local actions across the country during the week ofOctober 27 – November 6, to raise awareness about poverty. (The FPWF coalition partners will be doing events in Washington and around the country that week, but if you can’t organize something for that week, you can still participate in the preceding or following weeks.)

We are encouraging people to participate in the Food Stamp Challenge or a Hunger Banquet. You can find detailed information about how to do either of these here: http://fightingpovertywithfaith.com/f2/actiontoolkits/

Both of these activities can help illustrate the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in engaging ways. You can also plan other events that may involve prayer, education, or engagement with public officials.

To show Congress, the media, and people in our country how many people are concerned about poverty, we need you to post a notice about your event – no matter how big or small – on the FPWF website: http://fightingpovertywithfaith.com/f2/thanks/.

You can also sign up individually for the Food Stamp Challenge here:http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7261

NETWORK staff will be participating in the Food Stamp Challenge. We invite you to joins us, keep a journal about your experience, and send us your thoughts and reflections.

This morning, Casey and I attended a briefing about child nutrition reauthorization that was sponsored by Feeding America, a network of over 200 food banks that operate throughout the country. I have to say, it was probably the most disheartening 45 minutes I have experienced during my time as an intern at NETWORK. The briefing consisted of a panel of three food bank directors: one from Tucson, AZ, one from East Haven, CT, and one from southeastern Michigan. These individuals came from diverse areas of the U.S. but all shared the same problem and concern – they need more money to run their programs and ensure enough children are getting the proper nutritious meals they need. Sitting in the briefing, my emotions went back and forth between sadness because so many thousands of children in the U.S. go without food every day, and anger at the fact that members of Congress would vote for laws that literally take food out of children’s mouths.  As Bill Carnegie of the Community Food Bank of Tucson said, “We are fighting a war to get the children fed.”

The briefing was held to draw attention to the discrepancies between the nutrition bill passed by the Senate (S. 3307), and the bill that is currently in the House (H.R. 5504).  In addition to not being as comprehensive as the House bill, the Senate bill will offset the cost of improving Child Nutrition provisions by cutting funding from SNAP (food stamps). These cuts work out to be $50 less per month for recipients.  Just to get some perspective, that’s about what I spend for a week and a half of groceries. I cannot begin to imagine being forced to try and feed a family on such a budget. The SNAP cuts would not solve the problem of hunger in the U.S. either. It simply shifts who will be hungry and when.

Feeding America food banks service hundreds of thousands of people across the country, but they are only able to do so because of private donations, and in the current economy those donations are not always reliable. Each food bank director told heartbreaking stories about teachers and school administrators who are forced to choose at the end of each week which students were the most in need of the food backpacks the food banks made available to the schools. How are people supposed to choose the students to give backpacks to when all of them are hungry and all of them need the food?

After I read over the summaries of each bill proposed by the houses of Congress, I believed the bill from the House of Representatives was the stronger bill and the one the children in this country need.  Now that I have heard from those who directly serve the hungry children of America, I am surer than ever that passing the House bill will be a step in the right direction to end child hunger.