Updated on May 24, 2018 at 08:03 AM EDT
By Teresa Miller
One in seven Pennsylvanians, including one in five children in the commonwealth, struggles to afford food.
Teresa Miller (Pa. Insurance Dept. photo)
These are our neighbors, our friends, the future of our communities, and that future is at risk as Congress continues its partisan attack on low-income Americans through proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the innocuously named Farm Bill.
Last year Congress tried unsuccessfully to make massive cuts to Medicaid, the safety-net program that provides health care to 2.9 million Pennsylvanians, including two out of three Pennsylvanians in nursing homes.
This comes on the heels of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf expanding Medicaid to more than 700,000 people who now have access to health care.
Now Congress is using the normally bi-partisan Farm Bill to target SNAP. With passage of this proposed bill, Congress would jeopardize the ability of 1.8 million Pennsylvanians – mostly children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities – to afford their next meal, while at the same time dramatically increasing the state’s cost to administer the program.
Read more at https://articles.pennlive.com/opinion/2018/05/if_congress_cuts_food_stamps_1.amp?__twitter_impression=true.
Teresa Miller is the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. She writes from Harrisburg.
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