House Farm Bill would take food aid from millions
Posted June 22, 2018 in Press Releases
Yesterday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a partisan, flawed and harmful Farm Bill that would take food aid away from 2 million people.
Policy Matters Ohio’s State Policy Fellow Victoria Jackson released the following statement:
“The Farm Bill passed yesterday in the House would make it harder for the nearly 1.4 million Ohioans who need food aid to keep their families fed. This bill is an attack on children, single parents, veterans, older adults, and low-wage workers.
This bill would create harsher and more punitive requirements for working people and older adults, making it harder for them to access food aid. In Ohio, full-time workers in six of Ohio’s 10 most common jobs don’t earn enough to eliminate the need for food aid for a family of three. Harsher penalties are an attack on low-wage workers.
The bill targets children of single parents by reducing food aid for the household if both parents don’t cooperate with Child Support Enforcement.
The House Farm Bill cuts $19 billion from the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly food stamps, generates $1.70 for every dollar spent in an economic downturn. SNAP improves educational and health outcomes for children, reduces health costs by 25 percent for adults, and helps 10 percent of Ohio’s workers—about 524,000 people—put food on the table, providing the nutrition necessary to keep families afloat. The proposals in the bill would cause Ohioans to go hungry and weaken our economy.
We are disappointed in members of our Congressional Delegation who put party over shared prosperity by voting to take away food assistance from millions.”