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GOP Farm Bill Endangers Food Assistance Program

Commentary: The 2018 House Farm Bill, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives today, significantly cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—formerly known as food stamps—by more than $20 billion over the next ten years by shrinking eligibility for families, penalizing unemployed older adults, and other changes.

 
If passed by the U.S. Senate, the cuts will make it difficult for millions of Americans to access enough groceries and healthy food, and would be especially damaging to New Mexico, where over 450,000 people rely on SNAP to eat, including 40 percent of the state’s young children.
 
The following can be attributed to Sovereign Hager, Managing Attorney at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty:
 
“SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is our country’s most successful hunger fighting program. It helps hundreds of thousands of struggling New Mexicans put food on the table and is of particular importance in the southern half of our state where almost one in four people participate in the program. But the new House Farm Bill cuts SNAP, and Congressman Steve Pearce, who represents District 2, voted again to increase food insecurity and hardship across New Mexico.

“Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill that gives $84 billion in tax breaks to the wealthiest one percent – enough money to fund the entire SNAP program which costs less than $60 million. Few in District 2 or in New Mexico will benefit from those tax cuts for the wealthiest, but at least 162,393 New Mexicans in Congressman Pearce’s district participate in SNAP. Should this legislation pass in the Senate, up to 121,000 New Mexicans would face termination of SNAP, while tens of thousands of children and other family members would face reduced benefits for up to three years.

“Some of these families will lose food assistance due to illogical new work requirements. Research shows that SNAP gives people the support they need to get back on their feet and that compared to people not receiving SNAP, unemployed SNAP participants are more likely, not less, to find work. Despite this clear data showing that it is completely backward to take food away from people who are struggling to find work, the House Farm Bill would force New Mexico to develop a large bureaucracy to track employment and unpaid work hours of people on SNAP and cut unemployed adults, including those with children over six years old.
 
“Our state elected leaders should know just how misguided such policies are. In 2014 and 2015, Governor Martinez experimented with the same expensive bureaucracy and harsh penalties here in New Mexico despite widespread opposition. The courts ordered the state to stop the program because the state couldn’t administer it without terminating food assisatnce for eligible families. 
 
“The truth is most New Mexican families that can work, do work. Over half of the families who participate in SNAP in New Mexico are in working families. Families in our state receive SNAP for an average of just 14 months, making it a critical temporary support.
 
“Food is at the heart of our culture here in New Mexico, and in southern New Mexico, food and agriculture have deep roots. The congressional bill threatens not just our families but also our local economies and vibrant local food systems. Millions in SNAP benefits boost food purchases and creates jobs in food retail and agriculture. In fact, SNAP generates $1.70 of economic activity for every federal dollar spent. Over $650 million in SNAP benefits were spent at retailers in New Mexico last year.
 
“Instead of trying to cut SNAP, lawmakers should focus on bipartisan legislation that grows income and employment opportunities for all New Mexicans through policies that actually work. We urge Steve Pearce and other lawmakers to stop supporting such damaging legislation and instead to strengthen SNAP and ensure families across New Mexico can meet their basic needs.”

For more information on the 2018 Farm Bill and how the SNAP cuts would have impacted southern New Mexico, go to:  http://nmpovertylaw.org/2018/05/farm-bill-proposal-would-hurt-southern-new-mexico-economy-and-leave-families-hungry/

For more information on SNAP in New Mexico, go to: http://nmpovertylaw.org/proposed-budget-will-increase-hunger-and-inequality-in-nm-february-2018/

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The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is dedicated to advancing economic and social justice through education, advocacy, and litigation. We work with low-income New Mexicans to improve living conditions, increase opportunities, and protect the rights of people living in poverty.