It would be a travesty if the fight over the bill that serves the farmers who feed the world resulted in Americans going hungry and sliding further into poverty.
Sadly, that will be the likely outcome for millions of our nation’s food insecure if GOP-backed restrictions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the House version of the Farm Bill were to become law.
If the draconian new rules, which were not included in the Senate-passed bill, are adopted, seniors and children would be especially hard hit. Farmers also would be caught in the crossfire if the partisan food fight over assistance for low-income Americans derails efforts to update the Farm Bill that expires on Sept. 30.
GOP House leaders say their work requirements will “save” $19 billion over the next 10 years by reducing fraud. But at what cost to a program that already has the lowest fraud rate among all federal programs, and lifts millions of Americans out of poverty? What of the boost the current SNAP program gives America’s economy? Government researchers say that every $5 in new SNAP benefits generates $9 in economic activity.
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And what of the societal cost if between 1.2 million and 2 million Americans were to lose the small, but vital, boost food stamps can provide?
Remember, the average SNAP recipient receives $134 per month, or just $1.63 per meal. Anyone who does the grocery shopping knows that won’t buy very much or go very far. And those modest benefits already are hard to get and hard to keep, especially for those who have no intention of working.
Federal law already requires able-bodied adults under 49 who receive benefits to work parttime or agree to accept a job if offered one. Those without dependents also quickly lose benefits if they do not maintain hourly work requirements.
The bipartisan Senate-passed bill leaves those reasonable restrictions alone. Not the House version, which among other things, would require that anyone under age 59 whose children are older than age 6 lose their benefits for a year if they do not find a job within one month.
Finding work that fast might look easy to those who already have a good job. But as Michael P. Miller, president and CEO of River Bend Foodbank, writes in Viewpoints today, “If it were only that simple. Just pass a law saying people must work, and magically it will happen, regardless of education, training, child care, or transportation barriers. It usually takes more than one month to find a job.”
Under the House bill, when it does, families already struggling to pay the rent and keep the lights and heat on will find it even harder to feed their hungry children. Missing meals not only jeopardizes their families’ health, but their children’s ability to learn. It’s hard to see how that will accomplish GOP leaders’ purported goal of breaking the cycle of poverty.
In truth, SNAP already is doing that.
Fortunately, Congress still has the opportunity to do right by farmers and low-income Americans struggling to climb out of poverty.
A conference committee began meeting on Sept. 3 to reconcile the differences in the bills. Among its members are U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
We urge them to lead the charge for a bipartisan solution that assists America’s farmers while offering a hand up, not a handout to hungry Americans working to build a better life.
As Miller writes. “I have met thousands of people who do not have enough food, and I could count on one hand the ones who did not want to be working.”
Congress shouldn’t create roadblocks in an effective program that already is helping make that a reality for millions in need.