"If this budget were to become law, it would increase hunger and hardship, making it more difficult for struggling families to move out of poverty," says Davis.
Contacts: Meredith Jorss, mjorss@strength.org
Washington, D.C. - Today, the White House released its FY21 budget, which proposes $292 billion in cuts to safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid. This will have a negative impact on America's children and the working poor. The following is a statement from Share Our Strength's Senior Vice President Lisa Davis about the impact of this budget:
“Investing in our nation’s children has the highest return on investment for our country. That’s why it’s so disappointing to see the President’s budget undercut effective programs that help low-income working families, especially those with children, make ends meet.
If this budget were to become law, it would increase hunger and hardship, making it more difficult for struggling families to move out of poverty.
This proposal would be especially harmful for children. For example, it would:
- Cut Child Nutrition Programs by $20 million in the first year and $1.7 billion over 10 years, putting recent progress to end childhood hunger at risk.
- Cut SNAP by $15 billion in the first year and $182 billion over 10 years, in part by radically restructuring how benefits are delivered, eliminating family meal choice and the local economic benefits the SNAP program currently provides.
- Cut other programs that support kids and low-income families, like Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.
These programs work. A robust body of research reinforces that nutrition programs like SNAP are the most effective way to reduce child food insecurity and poverty. They improve health and education outcomes and increase lifetime earnings.
This budget will not only harm our nation’s next generation of leaders and problem-solvers, but it will hurt hardworking families who, despite holding down multiple jobs and cutting expenses to the bone, still find it hard to make ends meet. Budget cuts like these represent a threat to the fragile economic stability these families experience where one emergency expense, like a car repair or a medical bill, can set them back for months or even years.
We cannot ignore the human cost of proposals like this one. Share Our Strength will continue to work closely with elected leaders to ensure these damaging cuts do not make it into any future budget or legislative proposals.”
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About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But 1 in 7 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