On Wednesday Jan. 28 – tomorrow! – the House will vote on a new Farm Bill. This version contains $8.6 billion in food stamp funding cuts over the next 10 years.
How are these “savings” reached? By forcing already cash-strapped states to hugely increase their portion of “heat-and-eat” funding, and banking on the fact that they won’t or can’t.
Sound incredibly cynical? It is.
Heat-and-eat is a necessary mechanism to make sure people whose heating costs are included in their rent – typically the elderly and those living in public housing – are able to clearly demonstrate those costs when applying for food stamps.
Heat-and-eat helps make sure millions of struggling children, seniors, disabled, and working families get the maximum nutrition assistance they are eligible for.
Yet legislators are calling cuts to this necessary program “closing a loophole.”
What’s even more cynical is the calculation some Democratic legislators in farm states are making to justify these cuts: that a Farm Bill that pleases farm lobbyists is more important than one that keeps food on the table of hungry Americans – whose vote they think they can count on no matter what.
This political game will have a real effect on people’s lives. Roughly 850,000 households – 1.7 million Americans – will lose $90 a month in food assistance as a result.
Any cuts to food stamp funding is cynical and heartless and we must and can stop them. An attack on struggling people’s ability to put food on the table isn’t “savings.”
TAKE ACTION
What you can do:
The House is voting on this new Farm Bill on Wednesday. The Senate will vote next week. We need to contact these legislators. We also need to urge President Obama to provide leadership on this issue.
1) Pennsylvania members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Find your representative – email or call them right away!
2) Pennsylvania members of the U.S. Senate:
- Sen. Bob Casey – (866) 802-2833 / email / Twitter: @SenBobCasey – Tweet this
- Sen. Pat Toomey – (202) 224-4254 / email / Twitter: @SenToomey – Tweet this
Tell them to Vote NO on any Farm Bill that includes SNAP cuts.
3) President Obama: (202) 456-1111 / email / Twitter: @BarackObama – Tweet this
Tell him to veto any Farm Bill that includes SNAP cuts – and to be vocal about it! We need a President who will make clear that kicking people when they’re down is not the American way.
Spread the word by sharing with your networks and on social media.
Tweet: 47 million Americans are struggling to put food on the table. Now is the time to protect + strengthen food stamps not cut them. #SNAPworks
Post on Facebook: In 2012, SNAP/food stamps kept nearly 5 million people, including 2.2 million children, out of poverty and reduced child poverty by 3%. Congress is set to vote on a new Farm bill that would cut food stamp funding for 1.7 million Americans – including Pennsylvanians – by $90/month. We can stop the cuts.
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