Come September, members of Congress will return to Washington after the long August recess to debate the future of America’s safety net. The future of our nation’s most effective anti-poverty tool, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), hangs in the balance.
For six decades, the program has provided a crucial lifeline to low-income Americans trying to make ends meet, including about 700,000 households. The choices made by Congress will decide whether we maintain SNAP and continue to help our neighbors or weaken it and allow vulnerable Americans to fall through the cracks.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
SNAP provides a modest, but vital, benefit of $6 a day for individuals struggling to keep food on the table. It is unique in that the money provided can be spent only on food sold by eligible retailers, creating the double benefit of feeding our families and supporting the economy. From the farm that produces the food, to the manufacturer who creates the packaging, to the truck driver who delivers it, to the clerk who checks you out at your local supermarket — every $1 in SNAP benefits ripples through the supply chain, creating around $1.50 in economic activity.
The 2018 Farm Bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, provided a historic victory for America’s hungry families by reforming federal nutrition policy to allow SNAP benefit levels to better reflect current food costs. This change came after decades of rising food costs and inflation, which meant a slow-to-adapt SNAP was falling further behind and was increasingly unable to meet the needs of modern American families.
Unfortunately, congressional Republicans want to turn the clock back on SNAP. Their 2024 Farm Bill would revert the underlying SNAP calculus to the past, leading to decreased SNAP benefit levels. Four in five SNAP households include a child, elderly person or someone with a disability, and every single one of them would suffer from the $30 billion cut to SNAP that House Republicans call for.
Republicans are quick to point out how much the cost of groceries has increased because of inflation and corporate price gouging. I agree that we must do more to help families whose pocketbooks are being stretched thin. Taking people’s food away, however, does nothing to improve the situation.
To the contrary, House Democrats envision the 2024 Farm Bill not as a vehicle to relitigate what was just enacted into law five years ago or leave SNAP in a worse position than it was before 2018 but as an opportunity to further improve food and nutrition policy. When people have adequate access to food, everyone benefits. Children with full stomachs do better in school. Elderly people who eat adequately have lower health care costs. Parents, caretakers and people with disabilities who have enough money for groceries can take care of their families and have the dignity of knowing where their next meal comes from.
SNAP has helped countless Americans secure brighter futures. Some of them now serve in Congress, where they will write the next chapter of our nation’s food policy. They should support and fund this historically bipartisan program. Failing to do so will not only diminish the dignity and well-being of the more than 42 million individuals whom SNAP helps every month, but it also would reduce our collective potential as a nation. Furthermore, as acknowledged by my friend, Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Penn., and as noted by food and nutrition experts who have appeared before our committee, food security is now a national security issue.
We all have seen the effects of poverty and neglect in our communities. Let us do what we can to support one another, to be neighborly and kind and to pass robust nutrition policy that recalls us to the better angels of our nature.
Rep. David Scott represents Georgia’s 13th Congressional District. He serves as the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, where he oversees food and nutrition policymaking.
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