Statement attributed to Kate Leone, Chief Government Relations Officer
“More than 37 million people across the country struggle to put food on the table. Feeding America understands the importance of ensuring our decision-makers continue to strengthen the nation’s hunger-relief and anti-poverty programs for people who have fallen on hard times. Unfortunately, the fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget proposed by the Administration jeopardizes funding for those programs, putting the health and well-being of vulnerable populations at risk.
“Feeding America is deeply disappointed by the budget’s severe proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the first line of defense against hunger for millions of people who are low-income. The massive proposed cuts come amid a series of proposed SNAP rule changes that would also drive up rates of hunger across the U.S., including a rule that is expected to slash access to food assistance for nearly 700,000 individuals experiencing difficulty with finding stable, adequate employment.
“Additionally, the president’s budget revives an ill-informed call to replace some SNAP benefits with so-called ‘harvest boxes’ filled with pre-packaged, standardized food of inconsistent nutritional quality. The food boxes would undercut the impact of SNAP by making the program more costly and administratively burdensome, leaving more people without food in their pantries.
“Feeding America knows that the implementation of the budget’s proposed program changes and cuts would result in gaping holes in federal food assistance that private charity would not be able to fill. The diminished SNAP funding alone would create an increase in demand that the charitable sector would not be able to meet. In fact, for each meal the Feeding America network of 200 member food banks and 60,000 partner pantries and meal programs provides, SNAP provides nine.
“As it stands, this proposed budget is devastating for children, seniors, hardworking families, and so many others, in our community and elsewhere, striving to make ends meet. As Congress prepares for its budget process, Feeding America urges them to prioritize maintaining strong hunger-relief and anti-poverty programs for households working to get back on their feet
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About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 5.3 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on X.com.