News & Events

To say that most American political discourse takes place at the intellectual level of baboons would be an insult to baboons. Baboons are capable of handling two-factor reasoning problems: if I eat all the bananas now, I’ll have none left for later; better eat enough to quell my hunger now, but leave some for later. In contrast, political discourse generally takes place at the one-factor level that could be handled by, say, flatworms: Banana yummy! Hunger bad! Or, as today’s headline on Politico has it: “Republicans to slash food stamps”! (Exclamation point added.) Nothing against Politico; such is the nature of headlines, which is the level at which politics generally is conducted. To get to the higher-reasoning version of the argument, the one that might be interesting to any baboons who may be reading this, you have to continue down into the body of the article. There, you find that those Republicans have a rational explanation for wanting to cut food stamps: otherwise, they’d have to cut the defence budget.

…Well, a couple of weeks ago, the Defence Department announced that the F-35 programme’s procurement costs had increased by $17 billion. This is partly because the developer has been unable to finalise the jet on time, leading to expensive slowdowns. The actual production cost per plane of the cheapest version, according to Defence talking points, is $83.4m. So if the programme had a fixed budget and the higher costs led to lower purchases, that might mean buying about 210 fewer F-35s, ie 2,233 rather than 2,443. But fortunately, by slashing food stamps for millions of poor Americans during the most stressful economic hardship since the 1930s, we can avoid such painful decisions.

Read the rest of the article from The Economist blog “Democracy in America” here.

MIAMI — Ushered in amid promises that it would save taxpayers money and deter drug users, a Florida law requiring drug tests for people who seek welfare benefits resulted in no direct savings, snared few drug users and had no effect on the number of applications, according to recently released state data.

“Many states are considering following Florida’s example, and the new data from the state shows they shouldn’t,” said Derek Newton, communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which sued the state last year to stop the testing and recently obtained the documents. “Not only is it unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy, but it doesn’t save money, as was proposed.”

This week, Georgia instituted a nearly identical law, with supporters saying it would foster greater personal responsibility and save money. As in Florida, the law is expected to draw a legal challenge. The Southern Center for Human Rights, based in Atlanta, said it expected to file a lawsuit once the law takes effect in the next several months. A number of other states are considering similar bills.

The Florida civil liberties group sued the state last year, arguing that the law constituted an “unreasonable search” by the government, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. In issuing a temporary injunction in October, Judge Mary S. Scriven of Federal District Court scolded lawmakers and said the law “appears likely to be deemed a constitutional infringement.”

Read the rest of the New York Times article here.

SNAP Call-In Days – Tuesday, April 17 Through Thursday, April 19 – Strengthen and Protect Our Nation’s First Line of Defense Against Hunger

Both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are poised to take up SNAP legislation in the coming weeks.  Bad choices could weaken SNAP/Food Stamps or do worse damage.  It is critically important that your Senators and House Members hear a roar from constituents opposing proposals to cap or reduce funding, restrict eligibility or reduce benefits in SNAP – and that efforts should be made to strengthen, not weaken, the program.   Members of Congress should also support efforts to strengthen TEFAP, so it too can better respond in times of increased need.

Call Your Senators Toll Free:  1-877-698-8228* – You will be directed to the offices of your Senators
Call Your House Members:  202-225-3121 (Capitol Switchboard)

SNAP Message:   Every communication to your Members of Congress and the media should contain these three words:  strengthen, protect, SNAP.

Urge your Members of Congress to speak out in support of SNAP at Committee hearings, caucus meetings, and on the floor of the House and Senate.  Members of Congress must oppose any proposals that would change SNAP’s structure or reduce funding, restrict eligibility or reduce benefits (including limiting the “Heat and Eat” option states have).  Members should also support SNAP improvements, including the President’s proposal to restore the cut in the ARRA boost.  SNAP works – it is responding to increased need and must be strengthened, not weakened, in order to continue to provide critically-needed nutrition assistance.

TEFAP Message: Urge your Members of Congress to support strengthening funding for TEFAP, which is a critical source of food for food banks and the clients they serve.

Don’t forget to share your voice online by tweeting and using your Facebook status update. Be sure to tag us in your messages and include the hashtag #SNAPworks.

SNAP Talking Points:

•    SNAP works. Weakening SNAP would lead to more hunger and food insecurity, worse health and educational outcomes, and higher health costs.
•    Increasing SNAP benefits reduce hunger.  USDA researchers found that the boost to SNAP benefits included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) improved the food security of low-income households.
•    SNAP is responsive in times of need. SNAP’s responsiveness to unemployment proved it to be one of the most effective safety net programs during the recent recession, providing families with a stable source of food.
•    SNAP helps the most vulnerable. The average beneficiary household has an income of only 57 percent of the federal poverty guideline; and 84 percent of all benefits go to households with a child, senior, or disabled person.
•    SNAP lifts people out of poverty. SNAP lifted 3.9 million Americans above the poverty line in 2010, including 1.7 million children and 280,000 seniors.
•    SNAP has – for decades – enjoyed bipartisan support.  Recent polling data from FRAC found that 77 percent of voters said that cutting SNAP would be the wrong way to reduce government spending. Every bipartisan deficit group in 2010-2011 has insulated it from cuts, including the Simpson-Bowles and Domenici-Rivlin commissions; the Gang of Six; and the August 2011 deficit agreement. In his FY2012 and FY2013 budgets the President has included proposals to strengthen the program.

*Toll Free number courtesy of Feeding America.

The new documentary, “Hunger Hits Home,” takes a first-hand look at the crisis of childhood hunger in America through the eyes of the parents, children, anti-hunger activists, educators and politicians on the frontlines of the battle. The film is part of an ongoing partnership between Food Network and Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. The film will premiere on Food Network on Saturday, April 14th, at 8pm EST/7pm CST.

Read about the documentary here.

The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) provides a fresh fruit or vegetable snack to all students in participating schools.  The goal of this program is to increase the variety of fruits and vegetables children consume, create healthier school food environments, and positively impact the nutrition of not only the students but their families. Elementary schools with at least 50 percent of their students eligible for free and reduced-price meals can apply to participate in FFVP. Top priority is given to the schools with the highest proportion of free and reduced-price eligible students.

Food and Nutrition Services currently has rules for this program open for public comment until April 24th, 2012.

• Read the proposed rules: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-24/pdf/2012-4181.pdf
• Share your comments: http://www.regulations.gov/#!home – search for FNS-2009-0018-0001
• FRAC’s info about the program: http://frac.org/federal-foodnutrition-programs/fresh-fruit-and-vegetable-program/

Comments are due April 24^th, 2012.

A model letter written by Food Research and Action Center is available to use if you decide to submit comments. If you would prefer a word document, please email cornia@uah.org. Please let us know if you submit comments so we can track the responses by emailing cornia@uah.org.

This information is also available on our website on the Fact Sheets and Take Action page under Public Policy and Hunger.

WASHINGTON — A new study by the Agriculture Department has found that food stamps, one of the country’s largest social safety net programs, reduced the poverty rate substantially during the recent recession. The food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, reduced the poverty rate by nearly 8 percent in 2009, the most recent year included in the study, a significant impact for a social program whose effects often go unnoticed by policy makers.

The food stamp program is one of the largest antipoverty efforts in the country, serving more than 46 million people. But the extra income it provides is not counted in the government’s formal poverty measure, an omission that makes it difficult for officials to see the effects of the policy and get an accurate figure for the number of people beneath the poverty threshold, which was about $22,000 for a family of four in 2009.

“SNAP plays a crucial, but often underappreciated, role in alleviating poverty,” said Stacy Dean, an expert on the program with the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based research group that focuses on social programs and budget policy.

Read the full New York Times article on the study here.

Read the full study here.

In 2009 the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was responsible for lifting the income of 3.6 million Americans over the poverty line, providing an average of less than $300 in monthly food stamps to families in need. In 2010 this program lifted 3.9 million Americans above poverty, including 1.7 million children, as the Great Recession gave way to an initially very slow economic recovery.

The program also plays an important role in sustaining demand for groceries provided by businesses in communities around the country. Our analysis presented in this paper finds that each $1 billion spent by recipients enables nearly 14,000 Americans to find or keep their jobs. That means approximately 1 million workers were employed last year because of this program.

With long-term unemployment still high, and with overall unemployment expected to drop only slowly for several more years, cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is likely to do significant harm to millions of families and workers. Yet that is exactly what House Republicans proposed to do last year. In the so-called “Ryan budget plan,” named after the principal author of the bill, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), he proposed a $127 billion cut to the program. A cut of that size would result in the loss of more than 174,000 jobs in the first year. This proposal to cut the program by roughly 18 percent fortunately was not enacted.

It is too soon to know if the FY 2013 House leadership budget proposal, which is due out sometime this month, will propose any cuts to this program. (The FY 2012 budget was largely set by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which prevented a shutdown of the federal government in August of last year.) If cuts are proposed, this study offers policymakers a tool to estimate the employment consequences that will result. We detail our findings in the main pages of this report, but briefly, our study estimates that:

• Each $1 billion reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eliminates 13,718 jobs.
• A 10 percent reduction in the size of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would cause more than 96,000 job losses.
• These losses would be particularly strong in food-related industries, which would lose as many as 11,000 jobs under a 10 percent cut to the program.
• Job losses will likely have the greatest impact on younger workers, since they account for a disproportionate share of workers in food-related industries— nearly one-third of grocery employees are under 25, compared to just 14 percent of workers in all industries.

Read the full report from the Center on American Progress here.

The Budget for All puts Americans back to work, charts a path to responsible deficit reduction, enhances our economic competitiveness, rebuilds the middle class and invests in our future.  The proposed budget makes no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits, and asks those who have benefited most from our economy to pay a sensible share.

Budget For All Puts Americans Back to Work

The budget attacks America’s persistently high unemployment levels with more than $2.9 trillion in additional job-creating investments.  This plan utilizes every tool at the government’s disposal to get our economy moving again, including:
• Direct hire programs that create a School Improvement Corps, a Park Improvement Corps, and a Student Jobs Corps, among others.
• Targeted tax incentives that spur clean energy, manufacturing, and cutting-edge technological investments in the private sector.
• Widespread domestic investments including an infrastructure bank, a $556 billion surface transportation bill, and approximately $2.1 trillion in widespread domestic investment.

Read more about the Budget For All here.

Let Them Eat Cupcakes (aka The Cupcake Project), combines performance, outreach and installation to create a sobering commentary about the scale of hunger in the United States.

During her one-night-only appearance on April 6 from 8-10 p.m., Tobias will barter homemade cupcakes to visitors who share an idea or memory about hunger on an index card. The hunger index cards from the evening, along with cards from earlier iterations of the performance in Los Angeles, Boston and other American cities, will be arranged inside a colorfully lit emergency-relief tent surrounded by images of confectionary sprinkles.

The cupcake is both an iconic symbol of celebration and an ironic reference to ‘Let them eat cake,’ a statement falsely attributed to Marie-Antoinette during the French revolution to underscore the division between social classes.

The residue of the April 6 performance, including tent, lanterns, index cards and images of sprinkles—but not cupcakes—will be on view at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art through
May 19, 2012.

PARTICIPATE IN ELIZABETH TOBIAS’ PERFORMANCE ON APR 6.
Receive a cupcake and become a part of the discussion about hunger by leaving a comment or relating a personal story. Read more about her performance here.

The elementary kids crowd around the table in the late afternoon to snack on string cheese and juice.

Later, they’ll eat a taco and corn dinner at this Capitol West Boys & Girls Club in Salt Lake City.

With nearly all of them living at or below poverty-level incomes, most of these children don’t eat food at home. Their parents may not have the money to prepare the meals, or they don’t have time if they work more than one job, said club director Maren Miller.

“Most of our kids do eat school breakfast and lunch, and they eat dinner here,” Miller said. “We have parents that call and say, ‘If you have any leftover food, can you please send some home with the kids?’ ”

The dinners are provided through the Utah Food Bank’s Kids Cafe program, which feeds hot meals to children at 29 locations up to five days a week.

And while the food bank also offers food for snacks, it’s harder for this club and others to rely on the program because donations of dry goods to the food bank have dropped.

Read the rest of the Salt Lake Tribune’s article here.