PC(USA) Office of Public Witness: nutrition

Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts

Monday, August 12, 2013

House Proposes Devastating Cuts to SNAP, Nutrition programs

On August 1st, despite your protests to keep Nutrition in the Farm Bill and to protect SNAP from cuts, and after failing to pass a bill that cut $20 billion from SNAP, the House of Representatives doubled the malice by introducing a SNAP bill with $40 billion in cuts to the most effective anti-hunger program at the federal level (SNAP = Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program). With these $40 billion in cuts, the PC(USA) Office of Public Witness strongly opposed this legislation. This will leave many people hungry, with nowhere left to turn but to already overstressed food pantries and soup kitchens. This legislation is expected to come up for a vote in early September when the House returns to Washington from its August recess. Join us in resolutely opposing these cuts to nutrition programs.

According to Bread for the World, “the previous proposal of cutting $20 billion from SNAP is equivalent to eliminating half of all the charitable food distribution by churches and food banks over a 10-year period. The legislation that is currently under discussion would double that, substantially increasing the suffering of 47 million Americans who depend on SNAP to keep hunger at bay.” The earlier proposed $20 billion SNAP cut would drop at least 2 million people from the program, reduce benefits for more than800,000 families, and leave 210,000 children without access to free schoolmeals. Cuts to food aid programs not only cost lives and health but they also hinder our collective and common strength to reach millions of people in need. These cuts must not pass the House of Representatives.

As the Farm Bill continues through the conference committee process, where Senate and House members will come together to hammer out a compromise bill, it is extremely important that they continue to hear from you, their constituents, urging them to support a better Farm Bill. As Presbyterians, we support amendments that will increase access to healthy food for all people, focus on proper stewardship of the environment, build up and support rural communities, and limit crop subsidies to agribusiness.

Click here to send a message to your your Representative and ask him/her to support a faithful Farm Bill

Keep Advocating!

Thanks for your continuing advocacy for a better Farm Bill, and to prevent cuts to SNAP. As this bill advances, it will probably go to a conference committee with the Senate, where disagreements, in theory, will be reconciled. The House and Senate differences over SNAP funding will be a key part of the discussion. The conference committee will then report out the compromise bill and send it back to both House and Senate for another vote. The future of the Farm Bill in the House of Representatives is unclear. However, what is clear is that we must continue to push for a Farm Bill ensures access to food for hungry people, provides an ample safety net targeted to those small and mid-sized farmers who most need it, builds up rural communities and their economies, and protects the integrity of God’s creation through robust conservation programs and sustainable agriculture.

For more information on the Farm Bill and PC(USA) advocacy, please visit our Farm Bill blog posts.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Urge Congress to Finish a Full, Fair Farm Bill

Full and Fair Farm Bill NOW

The undersigned 262 groups from all parts of the country have joined together today to demand that Congress develop and pass a full and fair Farm Bill this summer, without further delay. A full and fair Farm Bill must include farm, food and nutrition, conservation and rural economic development programs and commodity and crop insurance reforms. It must also provide renewed and enhanced funding for the now-stranded but critical subset of programs that assist the most chronically under-served segments of agriculture and our rural and urban communities. The House and Senate should immediately appoint conferees to work in an open and urgent fashion toward adopting a final full and fair Farm Bill this summer.

The final bill should include:

• All nutrition programs, while rejecting all cuts or changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that would increase hunger or reduce access to nutrition education for any

of the 47 million Americans who currently rely on the program to meet basic food needs;

• Full funding for farm conservation programs, enhanced and streamlined to better meet the pressing and accelerating natural resource and environmental issues of our day;

• The cost-saving crop insurance and commodity subsidy reforms included in one or both bills including payment limit reform, national sodsaver, and conservation compliance re-linked to crop insurance- plus additional reforms needed to create a strong, targeted

and cost-effective safety net; and

• Robust provisions and funding to increase economic opportunity for the nation’s diverse family farmers and ranchers, farm and food workers, rural and urban communities, and Indian Tribes.

• Provisions to ensure that a comprehensive farm bill with all titles will be updated on a regular five-year basis as conditions in the food and farm system change.

We support equity, justice, opportunity, and access across all titles of the Farm Bill. Therefore, we support removing elements that make the bill less fair and that weaken protections for consumers, including those in need of food assistance; or of farmers, labor and the environment. These include provisions restricting SNAP eligibility as well as those related to the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Act (GIPSA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Commerce Clause.

We further pledge to work with Congress to secure passage of a Farm Bill package that continues the currently stranded programs that

are so critical to producers and communities around the country. These vital programs – representing a small fraction of overall Farm Bill investments – support beginning, socially disadvantaged, tribal, women, and veteran farmers and ranchers; rural economic development and job creation; renewable energy; fruit and vegetable production; organic farmers; local and regional food systems; farmers markets; healthy food access; and community food and urban agriculture projects.

Completion of a full and fair Farm Bill in 2013 is critical to the health of our recovering national economy.

We strongly urge Congress to act now to:

• assure access to affordable healthy and nutritious food for all;

• support the next generations of our nation’s farmers and ranchers;

• protect farm and ranch land, forests, and other natural resources; • advance food and agriculture-based economic development;

• invest in sustainable agriculture and food system research;

• promote energy conservation and renewable energy production;

• rebuild local and regional food infrastructure and markets;

• ensure the success of our nation's diverse producers, farm and food chain workers, and communities in greatest need of the landmark programs wisely created by Congress in the past several Farm Bills, programs which must be funded as part of a full and fair farm bill.

Sincerely,

262 groups, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Friday, July 12, 2013

Faith Community Opposing House Splitting up the Farm Bill

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

Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Farm Bill Expired – What Now?

The Farm Bill Expired – What Now?

By Leslie Woods, Rep. for Domestic Poverty & Environmental Issues and

Nelson Cowan, Intern for Public Witness

As Presbyterians trying to make faithful political decisions, we can find solace and agreement in that “...we seek a sustainable stewardship society shaped for the common good..." (220th General Assembly, 2012).

Despite its misleading name, the Farm Bill affects all facets of society - from urban populations, to rural communities, to developing countries. According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC):

The farm bill is the nation’s major food and agricultural policy vehicle and is about much more than the big ticket items: food stamps, crop insurance, and commodity support. The farm bill is also about conservation and environmental protection, rural economic and community development, food system reform and agricultural research.[i]

The Farm Bill was up for reauthorization this year, but lack of action in Congress allowed the 2008 Farm Bill to expire as of last Monday, October 1, 2012. What changes and what does not?

The Farm Bill's largest component, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps), will remain funded through at least March, 2013, due to a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government for six months of Fiscal year 2013. Similarly, the next largest component of the farm bill, crop insurance, will remain funded because of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, which is permanently authorized and therefore, does not require reauthorization along with most other Ag programs.[ii] Together, these two programs account for approximately 90% of Farm Bill appropriations. Although these programs are secure for the time being, action must be taken by Congress to pass a new Farm Bill in order to make longer, more secure arrangements.

What are the immediate implications of the expired Farm Bill? -- mostly conservation and sustainable agriculture programs will be affected right away -- Farm law reverts to permanent law contained in the 1938 and 1949 farm bills. Each successive farm bill since that time has suspended permanent law for the period of time provided for the newly enacted farm bill, but never before has reauthorization of the Farm Bill been scheduled for an election year. The vitriolic politics surrounding the current election have made it virtually impossible for elected officials to come to a compromise, even on a bill that usually gains bipartisan support without trouble. Without a new authorization, policy crafted for a very different agricultural society will take effect.

In short, as the NSAC puts it,

With no new farm bill or extension, the programs that address rural and urban job creation, natural resource conservation, renewable energy, and improved production and access to healthy food are in big trouble.

With the expiration of the farm bill, farmers will not be enrolling sensitive land in ecological restoration projects. Training opportunities for the next generation of beginning farmers will dry up. Microloans to the very small businesses that drive economic recovery in rural America will cease. Emerging farmers markets in rural and urban food deserts will not have access to startup grants. Organic farming researchers will not be able to compete for any dedicated research funds.

Grants to encourage on-farm energy conservation, to fund fruit and vegetable research, to assist minority and tribal farmers, to rebuild local and regional food systems, to invest in emerging farmer and community owned food businesses with high consumer demand, and to transfer land to young farmers will also be put on hold.

These are casualties of Congressional inaction.[iii]

The PC(USA) has strongly supported programs that support rural communities, new and disadvantaged farmers, and sustainable and ecologically sound agriculture. With the expiration of the bill, many small, but innovative and effective programs have either completely expired or will cease to entertain new enrollment.

One such program is the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), which was developed to address and counteract the challenge of the rising age of U.S. farmers and the concern that the younger generation will not be equipped to continue in this line of work. Despite being one of the most successful programs in the Farm Bill, it will receive no funding until further action is taken. Thus, new farmer training opportunities, microloans, and start-up grants will cease. Furthermore, organic farming researchers will no longer be able to compete for dedicated research funds, thereby stifling innovation, a hallmark of our nation's ethos.

What about SNAP and other nutrition programs? In 2011, SNAP kept 3.9 million people above the poverty line.[iv] The advantage of a program like SNAP is that its mandatory nature ensures that it can serve everyone who has need and is eligible. It functions counter-cyclically with the economy, expanding when times are difficult and more people are in need, and contracting as the economy improves and more people go back to work. Because of the elastic nature of this program, it is one of our most effective anti-hunger tools during times of economic downtown, not to mention that is puts spending power into the hands of people who need to spend in their local grocery stores, pumping new cash into local economies and a sluggish recovery. Despite the fact that SNAP makes up the single highest expenditure in the Farm Bill, it should not be one targeted for savings.

The Legislative Situation:

The U.S. Senate has passed a Farm Bill reauthorization, the “Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act” by a bipartisan vote of 64-35 on June 21^st. The House of Representatives also has a bill, which has passed out of committee but not been considered by the full House. The House bill makes significant reductions in SNAP funding, upwards of $16 billion over the next 10 years compared to the Senate bill’s $4.49 billion reduction, which, though smaller, remains too much in a time of economic crisis and sluggish recovery.[v]

It is difficult to predict what will happen with these bills in coming months. Some predict that these bills will get pushed through during the lame duck session and combined into a joint bill. But others are skeptical that Congress will come to any agreement during the Lame Duck session of Congress following the election. Indeed, as people who believe that God desires daily bread for each of us, the next six months will be crucial for advocating for a just farm bill that ensures our nation’s agricultural priorities support the farmers who need help, develop sustainable, healthy, local food systems, protect the natural world, and ensure that the great bounty of this nation, which is abundant indeed, reaches each one of us, so that every person might have enough.

Stay tuned to the Office of Public Witness blog and action alert email system for ways that you can weigh in as the Farm Bill debate drags on.

"As followers of Jesus Christ who live in relative affluence, American Presbyterians must consider the possibility that God places a responsibility upon each of us to use all the means available to us to see that just and sustainable human development becomes a reality for the whole human family in harmony with all of God's creation."

- Hope for a Global Future: Toward a Just and Sustainable Human Development

Approved by the 208^th General Assembly in 1996