From the Coalition on Human Needs (http://www.chn.org):
The USDA’s new proposed SNAP rule would cut food stamp benefits from millions of low-income families, exacerbating struggles and causing financial strain.
The administration is trying to bypass Congress―sneaking in billions of dollars in cuts to SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) through a new proposed rule change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This rule would pull the rug out from under families across the country, cutting SNAP benefits for more than 7 million people, including 3 million children.
That’s right: 3 million children across our country would face increased difficulty getting enough healthy food to eat, if this rule goes into effect.
This new effort by the administration would undermine states’ ability to account for the costs of utilities as they calculate SNAP benefits. This new proposed USDA rule unfairly standardizes and caps Standard Utility Allowance calculations across the country based on inadequate survey data―resulting in dramatic cuts to food stamps.
We need to stand together and defend this essential life line. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, reduces hunger and alleviates the crisis faced by food insecure families by providing assistance so they can purchase nutritious food.
Go to https://actionnetwork.org/letters/submit-your-comment-tell-trumps-usda-dont-cut-snap to tell the USDA to reject cuts to SNAP benefits that would hurt millions of people: children, seniors, people with disabilities and working families.
The USDA’s latest proposed rule change would slice $4.5 billion from SNAP over five years.[1] They’re attempting to limit a state’s ability to determine how heating, cooling and phone bills should be taken into account when determining SNAP food assistance. Instead of having states set levels, the USDA will force a top-down system on all 50 states. The end result: fewer benefits for millions of struggling families who need help the most.
People have substantially less money for food if their utility costs are high. But USDA, through this rule change, wants to take power from the states to take these unavoidable household costs into account. That means desperately needed assistance will be cut by billions of dollars.
We are the richest country in the history of the world. We have countless billionaires, and a disastrous income gap that creates inequality not seen since the Gilded Age. Cutting the SNAP program, and taking food from families who need it most, will only make rising levels of inequality even worse.
Some of the cuts could be as much as $110 a month! To a family having difficulty making ends meet, such a cut will cause impossible choices: feed your children, pay for heat, or pay for medical care.
Beyond belief, nearly 10,000 households, according to the USDA’s own data, are estimated to lose SNAP benefits altogether under these heartless cuts.[2]
We cannot let these cuts go through! Submit an official comment to the USDA today.
SNAP is one of the most effective federal programs that we have. SNAP lifted 3.2 million Americans out of poverty in 2018, according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, and is nearly as effective as the Earned Income Tax Credit in lifting families above the poverty line.[3]
Let’s remind the administration how important SNAP is.
Thank you for taking a moment to defend the food security of millions of families across the United States.
[1] https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/snap-sua-regulatory-impact-analysis.pdf [2] https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/snap-sua-regulatory-impact-analysis.pdf [3] https://www.frac.org/wp-content/uploads/frac-facts-snap-strengths.pdf
Betty J Hartzler
Please don’t take food from low income families struggling to get by.
The Snap program is important and I oppose cuts to it.