SNAP Cuts Further Endanger Hungry Vermonters

While 1 in 8 Vermont households already report inability to access enough food, last week the U.S. House of Representatives voted to make matters worse. On September 19, 2013 the House passed by the slim margin of 217-210 to cut $40 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps  and known in Vermont as 3SquaresVT). Hunger Free Vermont is deeply disappointed in this action and call for the U.S. Senate to reject cuts to this essential program that does its job to reduce poverty.  Nearly 4 million people rose out of poverty because of SNAP in 2012, of which 1.67 million were children. Despite their effective role in reducing hardship, the House vote to slash food stamps will deny food stamps to four-six million people. In Vermont, we are estimating that over 30,000 Vermonters would lose benefits completely or see a reduction in benefits.

The USDA report released on September 4th indicates that the level of food insecurity in Vermont (1 in 8 households) has not declined since last year, despite a slowly improving economy. The Great Recession may be over for people and corporations at the top. According to a recent analysis, income for the top 1 percent rose 31.4 percent over the past three years. But for everyone else, progress is painfully slow. For the remaining 99 percent, incomes grew by a fraction of a percent (0.4 percent). And 15 percent of our people are poor for the second year in a row – up from 13.2 percent in the Great Recession year of 2008.

Regardless of the cuts to SNAP in the Farm Bill, this November every family on food stamps will see their benefits trimmed due to a scheduled reduction in SNAP.  That cut will reduce the average Vermont food stamp benefit to about $1.33 per person per meal.  During Hunger and Homelessness Week (Nov 17-23), we ask Vermonters to eat on that budget for a week in order to understand how challenging this is.

If allowed to stand, the additional reductions endorsed by the House of Representatives will further erode the government’s response to hunger, putting even more stress on food pantries, communities of faith and others already overwhelmed by requests for help. As Congress goes into conference to reconcile the bill passed in the Senate with $4 billion in cuts to SNAP with the House bill that includes $40 billion in cuts, it must shift its thinking and understand that the cuts we have already made are blocking millions from making progress. Threats of harsh new cuts are exactly what the nation does not need.