In a beautiful agricultural state like ours, we have the pleasure of watching as the nation’s amber waves of grain literally grow around us.
In Ashland, where my family lives, we see glimpses of ‘hidden hunger’ at odds with the bounty growing in the fields. Donations fly off food pantry shelves and the monthly Matthew 25 produce giveaway lines stretch out the parking lot before the giveaway even opens.
These incidents propelled me to carry the needs of my neighbors to our federal legislators.
Earlier this month I traveled to Washington D.C. with Bread for the World, a Christian hunger and poverty advocacy organization, to petition our government leaders to recall the many reasons and Biblical ethos for supporting effective nutritional legislation.
Bread members from around the country met with law makers and staff, sharing data and experiences, and urging our legislators to support SNAP, WIC, and other vital nutrition programs.
SNAP, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, is the United States’ most important domestic anti-hunger program. Forty percent of SNAP recipients are children, and most families only receive SNAP benefits for a short period of financial stress.
The US Senate votes soon on their version of the budget reconciliation bill, which would cut $211 billion from SNAP.
While the proposed funding cuts are slightly lower than those passed by the House of Representatives, they would still be the largest SNAP cuts ever enacted and result in millions of people being forced off the program.
The Senate bill also includes other harmful changes that would deny millions of people access to SNAP and increase hunger and poverty in the United States. These include:
● Imposing work requirements on older adults.
● Ending the work requirement exemption for veterans, people who are homeless, and young people aging out of foster care.
● Banning refugees and others here lawfully for humanitarian reasons from receiving SNAP.
With the cost of food and other necessities still on the rise, now is not the time to reduce SNAP benefits or force families off the program.
In Ohio, 1.4 million folks rely on SNAP to put nutritious meals on their dinner tables.
That’s 11% of our fellow Buckeyes who get help buying groceries to feed their families families of children, veterans, disabled adults, and others.
Like the persistent widow mentioned in the Scriptures who kept pleading her case for help, we advocates keep persistently pleading on behalf of our neighbors.
So, Senator Husted and Senator Moreno, vote NO on cuts to SNAP.
Emily Huestis
Ashland, Ohio