Don’t Break the Nutrition Safety Net

In September, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its annual report on food insecurity data – numbers that reveal the depth of hunger across the nation. The findings point to a four-year trend since the economic downturn of 2008, as approximately one in six U.S. households continues to struggle putting food on the table.

These households are more than numbers – they are men, women, and children who do not know when or where their next meal will come from. The need among youth is even greater, as one in five American children lacks consistent access to food.

At the same time the USDA was confirming persistent need across the country, lawmakers returned to Washington with a priority of passing a new Farm Bill. Unfortunately, protecting the nutrition safety net is not enough of a priority. The Senate’s proposed Farm Bill suggested cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – formerly known as Food Stamps – by $4.5 billion over 10 years. The House Agriculture Committee followed with a proposal to reduce SNAP funding by $16 billion during the same period. While development of a new Farm Bill stalled in September, Congress will continue pushing for these cuts after the November sixth election.

Any reduction in funding for this vital component of the nutrition safety net would further strain families, pantries, and food banks in every state by terminating SNAP eligibility for millions of struggling Americans. The Greater Chicago Food Depository and its volunteer-run agency partners are already stretched thin trying to feed the 807,000 food insecure persons in Cook County, Ill. The House Agriculture Committee’s proposed cuts to SNAP would equate to 2 to 3 million currently-eligible households across America who could no longer receive nutrition assistance. Our nation’s food banks and pantries cannot cover the gap.

Critics of SNAP say the program has grown too quickly over the last decade. But this growth corresponds with the national increases in poverty and unemployment. In September we learned that 15 percent of Americans – 46.2 million people – lived below the poverty line in 2011. Compare that to 2001, when our nation’s poverty rate was 11.7 percent – 32.9 million people. Those figures do not include the millions of Americans who live just above the poverty line and struggle to put food on the table. SNAP helps people get through difficult times: health issues, job loss, reduction of work, and lost wages.

A single older adult named Rose recently visited one of the Greater Chicago Food Depository’s SNAP Outreach sessions in Orland Park, Ill. because she is going through the roughest patch of her life. An entrepreneur who operates a small business from her home, Rose has suffered financially as her sales tumbled during the economic downturn. With depleted savings, she has been trying to support herself, two debt-burdened adult daughters, and her grandchildren. Rose’s meager earnings aren’t enough to keep up with mortgage payments, insurance premiums, and taxes.

By eliminating state options known as categorical eligibility, the recently proposed version of the Farm Bill could prohibit Rose from receiving SNAP benefits to buy her groceries. Categorical eligibility was created by Congress in 1996 to help families get through tough times, even if their gross income or assets put them just above the federal SNAP limits. Without categorical eligibility, Rose’s home and car are assets she would need to lose in order to collect about $35 per week in assistance.

The elimination of categorical eligibility could also put more than 250,000 children from low-income families at greater risk of hunger, as their receipt of free and reduced-price school meals is guided by eligibility for SNAP. Studies show that hungry children at school fall behind in academic performance and attendance – results that can cripple our collective future.

The time is long overdue for the U.S., as a nation, to approach hunger as the public health crisis that it is. There is not a lack of food in this country, but there is certainly a lack of access to food. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle say that no American should go hungry, but food insecurity persists in every state – red or blue. We need a Farm Bill that reflects this bipartisan sentiment by maintaining support for the nutrition safety net.

Feature photo: cc/svenwerk