Anti-hunger leaders optimistic about Walorski-McGovern cooperation on SNAP review
March 03, 2015 |05:07 PM
Leaders of the nation’s largest anti-hunger groups today expressed optimism about the cooperation between House Agriculture Nutrition Subcommittee Chairwoman Jackie Walorksi, R-Ind., and subcommittee ranking member Jim McGovern, D-Mass., in the House Agriculture Committee review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.
But the anti-hunger leaders added that they oppose cuts to what is commonly referred to as food stamps.
Walorski and McGovern both spoke today at a breakfast session of the National Anti-Hunger Conference in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, and Lisa Davis, a senior vice president of government relations for Feeding America, both said that the arrival of Walorski and McGovern together was an important signal.
“We were delighted they came together,” said Davis, senior vice president of government relations for Feeding America, the nation’s largest organization of food banks.
“Maybe, just maybe, the bipartisan tradition [behind nutrition programs] can continue,” added Ellen Teller, director of government affairs for FRAC, which represents anti-hunger groups around the country.
Walorski talked about her experience as a missionary in Romania and her commitment to fighting hunger in the United States. She also talked about the importance of communication on hunger issues and reaching across the aisle.
McGovern thanked Walorski for reaching out to him before the first hearings last week on what House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway, R-Texas, has called “a top-to-bottom review” of the food stamp program.
“I think we have a lot of common ground here,” McGovern said.
But he added, “That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have some bumps in the road and we aren’t going to need your help to smooth things out.”
“By and large when people talk about fixing SNAP, I get a little nervous,” McGovern said. “Because largely it works.”
He said he is bothered that “there is this talk out there” that the “hurdles” to qualify for SNAP should be higher and that recertifications for eligibility should be more frequent, when studies show that people are “falling off the program” because the process of qualification is complicated.
“SNAP is not a jobs program, it is not a worker training program,” McGovern said.
“If you are talking about ending hunger, it is more than SNAP.”
Conaway has said that a goal of SNAP should be to get people off the program, while Walorski asked at a hearing last week whether SNAP has ever been more than a “Band Aid.”
McGovern praised the anti-hunger activists for coming to Washington to lobby.
“The more we can humanize this debate, the more successful we will be,” he said. “Your presence every year really makes a difference. Those who are critical about what you care about hate when you come to Washington, because you are troublemakers. If you have learned anything in the last few days, there is reason for optimism. If you fight hard enough, we can win this fight.”
Close to 1,000 anti-hunger activists are scheduled to lobby members of Congress on nutrition issues. Weill said the message is that nutrition programs should be improved, not cut.
According to documents released by FRAC and Feeding America, those improvements should include:
But the anti-hunger leaders added that they oppose cuts to what is commonly referred to as food stamps.
Walorski and McGovern both spoke today at a breakfast session of the National Anti-Hunger Conference in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, and Lisa Davis, a senior vice president of government relations for Feeding America, both said that the arrival of Walorski and McGovern together was an important signal.
“We were delighted they came together,” said Davis, senior vice president of government relations for Feeding America, the nation’s largest organization of food banks.
“Maybe, just maybe, the bipartisan tradition [behind nutrition programs] can continue,” added Ellen Teller, director of government affairs for FRAC, which represents anti-hunger groups around the country.
Walorski talked about her experience as a missionary in Romania and her commitment to fighting hunger in the United States. She also talked about the importance of communication on hunger issues and reaching across the aisle.
McGovern thanked Walorski for reaching out to him before the first hearings last week on what House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway, R-Texas, has called “a top-to-bottom review” of the food stamp program.
“I think we have a lot of common ground here,” McGovern said.
But he added, “That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have some bumps in the road and we aren’t going to need your help to smooth things out.”
“By and large when people talk about fixing SNAP, I get a little nervous,” McGovern said. “Because largely it works.”
He said he is bothered that “there is this talk out there” that the “hurdles” to qualify for SNAP should be higher and that recertifications for eligibility should be more frequent, when studies show that people are “falling off the program” because the process of qualification is complicated.
“SNAP is not a jobs program, it is not a worker training program,” McGovern said.
“If you are talking about ending hunger, it is more than SNAP.”
Conaway has said that a goal of SNAP should be to get people off the program, while Walorski asked at a hearing last week whether SNAP has ever been more than a “Band Aid.”
McGovern praised the anti-hunger activists for coming to Washington to lobby.
“The more we can humanize this debate, the more successful we will be,” he said. “Your presence every year really makes a difference. Those who are critical about what you care about hate when you come to Washington, because you are troublemakers. If you have learned anything in the last few days, there is reason for optimism. If you fight hard enough, we can win this fight.”
Close to 1,000 anti-hunger activists are scheduled to lobby members of Congress on nutrition issues. Weill said the message is that nutrition programs should be improved, not cut.
According to documents released by FRAC and Feeding America, those improvements should include:
- Raising the SNAP benefit from an average of $1.42 per meal by requiring SNAP benefits be calculated based on the cost of the low-cost food program.
- Remove the three-month limit on childless, single adults who cannot find jobs.
- Fully fund the Obama administration’s initiatives for SNAP Employment and Training.
- Improve SNAP access for low-income seniors.
- Increase funding for child nutrition programs, including school meals.
- Maintain the “independent, science-based standards” for the food in school meals.
- Provide full, mandatory funding provided in the 2014 farm bill for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) commodities that go to food banks and pantries.
- Fully fund TEFAP storage and distribution funds.
- Maintain current Commodity Supplemental Food Program assistance.
- Include in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) set-asides for breastfeeding peer counseling, infrastructure and technical assistance, computer systems and Electronic Benefit Transfer payment system implementation.
- Support the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition program at $20 million and the Seniors Farmers Market Program at $21 million.
- Fully fund the Emerson/Leland Hunger Fellowship program at $3 million.
