“The Senate Farm bill shows a clear acknowledgement of the harm caused by hunger and poverty on low-income families and children.”
Last week, members of the Senate Agriculture Committee introduced the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, known as the Farm Bill. This legislation includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nutrition program that provides a grocery benefit to people experiencing financial hardship; a majority of these recipients are children, senior citizens and people with disabilities.
Share Our Strength supports the Senate Farm Bill. The following is a statement from Share Our Strength’s senior vice president, Lisa Davis. Share Our Strength is the nonprofit organization behind the No Kid Hungry campaign.
“We are encouraged by the proposed Farm Bill released by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week. It represents a strong bipartisan effort by the committee and its leadership, and Share Our Strength supports it.
"The bill not only preserves the funding and structure for SNAP, but it makes improvements to the program’s integrity and administration, while ensuring that low-income children will continue to receive the nutrition assistance they need to reach their full potential.
"Knowing that a good job is the best pathway out of poverty and hunger, this bill maintains and strengthens the current work requirements in the SNAP program. The proposed legislation also expands the 2014 employment and training pilots and encourages states to build and test employment programs to explore evidence-based policy solutions.
"The Senate Farm Bill shows clear acknowledgement of the harm caused by hunger and poverty on low-income families and children and the critical role that SNAP plays in keeping food on the table during times of financial hardship.
"For children, SNAP doesn’t just help fill an empty stomach. Research shows that the food children receive through SNAP benefits can put them on a path to a brighter future, with an impact on brain development, test scores and long-term health. This program helps a child grow up healthier, smarter and more likely to break the cycle of poverty.
"We urge the Senate to continue to work together to pass a strong bipartisan 2018 Farm Bill that protects SNAP from any benefit cuts or structural changes that make it harder for kids and low-income Americans to get the basic nutrition they need.”
###
About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But 1 in 6 kids will face hunger this year. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger through effective programs that provide kids with the food they need. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. Join us at NoKidHungry.org