As the 113th Congress begins its work, there will be on ongoing series of bitter budget debates. Inevitably, there will be proposals to cut federal support for food assistance programs—the charitable tax deduction that fuels food donations and SNAP benefits will likely be on the table.
Cuts in these programs will make life even harder for the people Foodshare and the local food pantries and community kitchens in the region serve. It’s vital, then, that we get ahead of this curve and let our representatives know how important these programs are.
Feeding America, the national network of food banks across the country (including Foodshare), has prepared a letter to Congress to do just that. Read the letter here.
If you are part of an organization that cares about these issues, we’re asking that you sign on to that letter and amplify its message to legislators. To sign your organization onto the letter, go here.
Thanks for helping with this. It will make a big difference for all of us working to end hunger, in Connecticut and around the country..
Jewish Groups Warn Congressional SNAP/Food Stamp Cuts Still a Threat
ReplyDelete(Jewish Journal of Greater LA, January 30, 2013)
Although Congress approved a nine-month extension of the Farm Bill, the delay is a “temporary reprieve” said Abby Leibman, president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. MAZON and several other Jewish groups – including the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (JFS), American Jewish World Service, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) - opposed the cuts to SNAP that were approved in the Senate and House of Representatives Agriculture Committee. “There’s no reason in this country that people should be hungry, and we have an actual program [SNAP] that not only feeds people, but keeps them out of poverty,” said Ben Suarato of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. As Congress continues to address federal financial issues, the proposed cuts will again be on the table, said Nancy Volpert, public policy director at JFS. More than 46 million Americans now participate in the program, and in September 2011 one million Los Angeles residents received benefits, according to California Food Policy Advocates. About 55,000 Jews in the Los Angeles area live below the poverty line and are eligible for SNAP/Food Stamps, noted Pini Herman, author of the 1997 Los Angeles Jewish Population Survey. Michael Flood, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, said cuts to the program would force more people to rely on food banks and pantries for groceries. “We now have to engage in a lot of work to make certain that that safety net stays in place,” said Leibman.