National WIC Association Statement: Partisan House Farm Bill Undermines Nutrition Assistance, Harming Children
Rev. Greenaway: “After an outpouring of concern about the treatment of families on the border, it is outrageous that the House now moves forward with a bill that will take food out of the mouths of children.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Natalie Mulloy
Email: [email protected]
WASHINGTON – On June 21, 2018, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 2, the farm bill, by a party-line vote of 213-211. The farm bill includes significant reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Rev. Douglas Greenaway, President and CEO of the National WIC Association (NWA), issued the following statement in response:
“The National WIC Association is deeply discouraged by the House’s vote in support of a partisan and problematic farm bill. For decades, farm bills have taken shape through bipartisan agreement to meet the needs of food producers and consumers. The House leadership’s fervent commitment to undermining nutrition assistance has sullied this bipartisan process and subverted the promise that no family should go hungry in America.
“The House bill’s limits to categorical eligibility ensure that thousands of children will lose access to nutrition assistance in schools. Congress designed nutrition assistance programs to work in tandem with each other, and the House’s commitment to dismantling those connections serves only to decrease programmatic efficiency and leave people without access to food. After an outpouring of concern about the treatment of families on the border, it is outrageous that the House now moves forward with a bill that will take food out of the mouths of children.
“The bill’s addition of new and overly burdensome work requirements will also force families off of SNAP. Out-of-touch policymakers, unaware of the realities of poor people’s lives, falsely presume that able-bodied SNAP recipients are not already working. In addition, SNAP already includes work requirements that many states find onerous, especially in times of economic downturn or stagnation. Work requirements are inflexible mandates that put up barriers to participation and deny people access to the very services that can give them a shot at the American dream. Simply put, work requirements do not work.
“It is deeply unfortunate that House leadership insisted on pursuing these radical changes to SNAP while refusing to work with or listen to their Democratic colleagues. On the other side of Capitol Hill, Chairman Roberts has done an outstanding job at drafting a bipartisan farm bill in the Senate. Should the farm bill proceed, we are hopeful that the Senate’s draft will prevail.”
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