Pressing Issues

November 15, 2011

Congressional Spotlight:  Call-In To Protect SNAP and Other Safety Net Programs

Call-In Days:  Call the toll-free number 888-907-1485 on November 15th through 17th to reach Members of Congress and urge them to protect safety net programs.  The toll-free number has been provided by AFSCME.

Budget Message:  Protect SNAP, child nutrition programs, and other safety net programs for low-income and vulnerable people from budget cuts by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Super Committee).   A balanced approach to reducing the deficit must include revenues.

Background on Deficit Reduction Process:  SNAP, school meals and most other low-income entitlement programs would be exempt from across-the-board cuts if Congress fails to pass the Super Committee’s plan by December 23rd, but are potentially at risk in a Super Committee plan.

Ag Appropriations:  For details on FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations measures (H.R. 2012), go to the FRAC website’s Legislative Action Center.

October 19, 2011

Urgent Action: US Senate to vote on eliminating categorical eligibility for SNAP (food stamps)

The US Senate is set to vote on the Agricultural Appropriations today- there is an amendment #810- that would eliminate categorical eligibility-this policy helps states have flexibility and eases administrative barriers for people to access the Food Stamp Program. Call Senator Hatch and Lee today and ask them to vote against Senator Sessions amendment #810

October 6, 2011

Action Needed: Protect SNAP, CN and Other Safety Net Programs from Budget Cuts

Urgent! Ask Your House Member to sign onto the letter circulated by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) urging protection for SNAP and other low-income programs in any deficit cutting scenarios.

Food Research Action Center letter

July 8, 2011

Sign-on Letter Opposing the Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA)

The House and Senate are likely to vote on proposals to add a balanced budget amendment (BBA) to the U.S. Constitution in July.  The House now expects to act during the week of July 18th and the Senate vote during that week as well.

Both proposals would force extreme cuts in federal spending as the means of balancing the budget.  We are very concerned that Members of Congress will vote for them because it sounds “responsible” to balance the budget.

But the truth is these proposals would CUT essential programs like Medicaid, SSI, and SNAP/food stamps in half within 10 years.  Medicare would have to be turned into a voucher, and spending for key programs like housing, education, child care, Head Start, public health, veterans’ health care, environmental protection, health research, food and water safety, and many others would be slashed by 70 percent.  A constitutional balanced budget amendment would also cause significant harm to the economy, making recessions both deeper and longer.

STATE AND LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS:  Please sign this letter so your Members of Congress know you want these reckless changes to the U.S. Constitution defeated.
To read the full text of the letter with signers as of July 7, click here.

Background:  The BBA measures that will be considered in the House and Senate are “extreme”  because they would cap total federal spending at 18 percent of GDP (total federal spending was just under 24 percent in 2010) and would require that any measure to raise revenues be adopted by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.  Such a stringent cap would require cuts even deeper than the House-passed budget, which limits spending to 20 percent of the GDP and includes massive cuts such as slashing more than $1.5 trillion from Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance (CHIP) over 10 years, plus $600 billion in additional cuts to Medicaid from repealing the Affordable Care Act.  (The proposal to restrict total spending to 18 percent comes from the very right wing Republican Study Committee, and they get there through the extreme cuts listed above.)

The extreme versions are not likely to pass.  But we can’t take that for granted.  The last time the BBA was debated in the Senate in 1997, it fell just one vote short of passing.  There is a very real risk that less extreme but still destructive constitutional BBA could pass this year unless Members hear from people back home.

Many Members have never voted on this issue.  Any Member who has not voted needs to get a strong message that any version of a BBA is unacceptable.

These votes also give us an opportunity to go back to Members of the House and Senate who supported a less extreme but still destructive version of the BBA in the past and urge them to oppose this version.

More than 140 national organizations have signed onto the attached letter urging Congress to oppose any BBA.  Many state and local organizations have asked to sign on as well – we hope you will join them.

Please join the effort to defeat the BBA and sign the addendum to this letter by noon on Wednesday, July 13th.

Please note:  only organizations should sign the letter.  Click this link ONLY if you are authorized to sign for your organization.

Additional Background:

CBPP: Balanced Budget Amendment Would Require More Extreme Cuts Than Ryan Plan:

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3508

CBPP: A Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment Threatens Great Economic Damage:

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3509

House Budget Committee Democrats Report (.pdf) – ‘Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment is Guise to Push the Republican Budget Agenda’ – http://democrats.budget.house.gov/doc-library/FY2012/062711BalancedBudgetAmendmentreport.pdf

New York Times: More Folly in the Debt Limit Talks:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/opinion/05tue1.html?_r=2&hp

See the full text of the letter with signers as of July 7 by clicking here.

July 5, 2011

Deficit Discussions Continue as Deadline Nears – Advocates Must Weigh in NOW with the White House to Protect Safety Net Programs — Including SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition

The Senate cancelled this week’s July 4th recess to concentrate efforts on negotiating a deal with the White House and House leadership on the debt-ceiling/deficit reduction package. Anti-hunger advocates must elevate the potential devastating impacts these negotiations can have on low-income programs.  Email/call the White House this week to urge President Obama to protect SNAP/Food Stamps, Child Nutrition and other safety net programs.

Call or e-mail the White House (President Obama and Vice President Biden).  E-mail or call toll-free: 1-888-245-0215.  Click here for more info and a template email.

Message:  Any deficit reduction plan must protect programs for low-income families and individuals – particularly key supports like SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition — and must also include new revenues. The plan should reduce poverty and help disadvantaged people, even as it attempts to shrink the deficit.  Low-income assistance programs, like SNAP/Food Stamps and Child Nutrition, must be exempt from any caps and automatic across-the-board cuts which could be triggered when budget targets or fiscal restraint targets are missed.

Participate in the July 6th White House Twitter Town Hall
In addition to emailing or calling the White House, you can participate in its Twitter Town Hall. The President will answer questions based on the popularity of a subject, so we have joined with Feeding America to get our question answered during the debate.  Please tweet this message to your followers: “I’d like to #askObama his plans to protect low-income safety net programs during #budget debates & work to #endhunger in US RT”.

For more information about the Twitter Town Hall, follow us at @fractweets or contact Betsy Edwards.

Please weigh in immediately and share this alert widely among your network and contacts to demonstrate support for responsible long-term deficit reduction through a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts that do not harm low-income and vulnerable people.

-passed along from our friends at FRAC (Food Research and Action Center)