Food Fights in Congress May Leave Many Living in Poverty in a Scramble To Find Healthy Eats

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Just days after the AMA declares obesity a disease, it seems strange to have this story as our lead. However, current debates (and some posturing) in Washington are causing great concern for anti-hunger and anti-poverty advocates. And among their biggest supporters might be drought-hit Texas farmers.

SNAP-food-program-logoSusan Ferris, Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON – As the House of Representatives began whittling down 103 Farm Bill amendments on Wednesday, Texas lawmakers remain divided over the high-stakes, half-trillion-dollar legislation that could strip funds for food stamps.

The biggest conflict concerns the $20.5 billion in food stamp cuts in the House bill, which Democrats attack as unfair to low-income families and Republicans defend as necessary to reduce wasteful spending.

David Gibson, a longtime lobbyist with the Texas Corn Producers Association, said the bill’s future appears uncertain after House Democrats blasted the food stamp cuts this week. “We’ve gotten real mixed messages as we go from office to office,” Gibson said.

SNAP-Challenge-Battle
SNAP Challenge Battle
Rep. Steve Stockman aide boasts success in “SNAP challenge” as Democrats lament cuts in food assistance (Dallas News)

Seven House representatives from Texas – all Democrats – have railed against the House bill, which strips funds for food stamps, officially the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

But Gibson said the farm bill is crucial for drought-prone Texas, which relies on crop insurance programs during disasters.

Four Texans sit on the House Agriculture committee, which approved the bill by a wide margin earlier this month. Two are Republicans and two are Democrats. […]

[…] Other Texas groups, including the Texas Hunger Initiative, firmly oppose the House bill and seek to ward off cuts that they say could take 171,000 Texans off the program.

Jeremy Everett, the group’s director, said the nutritional assistance program has been an “easy target” for policymakers looking to slash costs. “I don’t understand why good, thoughtful representatives in Congress would even think through taking away food from folks who are barely making it,” Everett said. “Are they choosing to represent their entire constituency? Or just those who think like them?”
(Read the rest of this story at Chron.com)

RELATED STORIES:
• Food assistance, not corporate handouts (Politico)
• Fact Checker:  The ‘SNAP Challenge:’ The claim that food stamp recipients get by on $4.50 a day (Washington Post)
• Feeding Your Family in a SNAP: Houston Food Bank Seeks to Illustrate the Limits of Current Food Stamp Program (HOUmanitarian)

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