July 11, 2013
Dear Representative:
As people of faith working
to reduce hunger and poverty and urging sustainable stewardship of our
resources, we urge you to oppose
proposals to dismantle the farm bill.
Proposals to “split” the farm bill will put critical programs, particularly
SNAP (formerly food stamps), at risk of deep cuts and harmful policy changes.
Passing a farm bill that
contains only the farm policies and commodity provisions would almost certainly
lead to a nutrition bill with SNAP cuts that far exceed even the $20 billion
proposed in the earlier version of the farm bill. Thus, we view a vote in favor of a separate
farm policy bill as a vote in favor of uncertainty and possibly catastrophic
cuts to SNAP.
Our nation’s food and farm
policies as embodied in the farm bill impact people and communities from rural
America to developing countries.
Historically, there have been good reasons to connect good nutrition
policy with good farm policy, and this partnership is essential to the
long-term health of all of the programs involved. Splitting the farm bill and making SNAP
vulnerable to deep cuts will not only hamper the ability of low-income
Americans to put meals on the table, but will also have negative consequences
for food producers as well. According to USDA, 16 cents of every dollar spent
on food goes back to farmers.
We urge the House to work
on a comprehensive farm bill that protects and strengthens nutrition programs
and encourages sustainable stewardship of our resources.
Sincerely,
American Friends Service
Committee
Bread for the World
Church World
Service
Columban Center for
Advocacy and Outreach
Disciples Justice
Action Network
Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America
Jewish Council for
Public Affairs
MAZON: A Jewish
Response to Hunger
National Advocacy Center of
the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Catholic Rural
Life Conference
National Council of Jewish
Women
Office of Social Justice,
Christian Reformed Church in North America
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)
Union for Reform Judaism
United Church of Christ
Justice and Witness Ministries
The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
The United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
