Stop the Relentless Attacks on SNAP

Last week, USDA published its latest rule to take food off the tables of struggling Americans. This time, the proposed rule will alter how monthly utility costs are estimated when calculating a household’s monthly SNAP benefits. The rule threatens to reduce SNAP benefits for 19% of current households that count on the program to help them afford basic nutrition and disproportionately impacts seniors and people with disabilities.

This is the third time this year that this Administration has proposed harmful rule changes to cut or eliminate SNAP benefits from struggling households. This latest proposal is estimated to cut $4.5 billion in SNAP benefits over the next 5 years. When combined with previous proposals to expand work requirements in areas of high unemployment and to alter categorical eligibility used to help more eligible households access SNAP, over $20 billion will be cut from SNAP benefits over the next 5 years. For perspective: according to Bread for the World, the annual operating budget for every single charitable hunger relief program in our nation is $5 billion.

These proposals are reckless and mean-spirited, doing nothing to relieve the underlying need for food assistance. They merely deepen the hardship for struggling households by taking away an important resource to help them buy food for themselves and their families. In the case of this latest rule, it will exacerbate the difficulty of affording to pay for both food and utilities. It should also be noted that all three of these proposals attempt to circumvent the will of Congress which has rejected similar proposals with strong bipartisan support for the 2018 Farm Bill and the appropriations process has rejected this latest proposal despite being proposed in the President’s 2019 budget.

It’s time to tell USDA and this Administration once again, #HandsOffSNAP. The public comment period on this rule ends Dec. 2. Please stay tuned to our advocacy alerts as we get more data on the impact of this proposal here in Washington.

What You Can Do