The Action Needed: Members of Congress need to hear from you! Ask them to reject any Farm Bill that cuts food assistance or makes it harder to receive benefits. Urge them to work with their colleagues in the House and Senate to protect SNAP benefits!
Take a couple of minutes to tell your Members of Congress why you, as a person of faith, think SNAP needs to be protected. You could also thank them for their past efforts to protect food assistance, and ask them to take a leadership role this year to make sure cuts to SNAP do not pass.
Who to Contact: Call your Representative TODAY (May 8th)! You can make use of Feeding America’s toll free number for today’s national call-in day: 1-888-398-8702. You will be connected to your Representative’s office by putting in your zip code.
Sample Message: “My name is ____ and I live in your district. I’m calling to urge you to oppose H.R. 2, The Farm Bill. This issue is important to me, as a person of faith, because ___. I urge you to protect food assistance programs as you work to reauthorize the Farm Bill this year. Millions of people, many of whom are children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, depend on this food assistance to survive. Thank you for standing up for low-income people in our country.”
Even though the Senate is not yet voting on a version of the Farm Bill, your Senators still need to hear from you about this issue and how important it is to protect SNAP benefits as they consider the Farm Bill.
The Issue: The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on a version of the Farm Bill in May that would increase food insecurity around the country. This bill in its current form includes huge cuts to SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps). It also creates significant changes to the program, including imposing increased work requirements (with inadequate funding for employment programs) and harsh penalties for non-compliance with the new rules. Such penalties would place people at risk of losing their benefits for at least a year.
Analysis of the bill by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that more than 2 million people could lose SNAP benefits or have them reduced due to these changes, if this version of the Farm Bill passes.
SNAP is an efficient and effective anti-hunger program that serves over 41 million low-income people around the country, including over 400,000 people in CT.
Our faith teaches us that we are to feed the hungry, and recognize the dignity of each and every person. Taking critical food assistance away from people who need it most is immoral. We cannot let this happen! We need to be a moral voice, urging our leaders to protect the hungry and the vulnerable.
Want to learn more? You can read more background information about the current House version of the Farm Bill, as well as further analysis here:
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/25/17262764/farm-bill-food-stamp-snap-house-republican
Thank you for your advocacy efforts!
