Why the Farm Bill Matters

The Farm Bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation that authorizes most of our federal agricultural and nutrition programs. Congress must pass a new Farm Bill every five years. This is Congress’s opportunity to make structural changes that can impact access to programs that help low-income people put food on their tables, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or “food stamps”), The Emergency Food Assistance Program (federal commodities distributed at food banks), and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (commodities used to supplement senior nutrition).

The current Farm Bill is set to expire on September 30, 2018 and both Senate and House leadership are determined to pass a new bill before then. With both a House bill and a Senate bill that have passed their respective chambers, Congress must negotiate a bill that resolves the differences and that can pass out of both chambers before it can go to the President to be signed into law. Complicating the process is the fact that the two bills are vastly different from one another, especially when it comes to SNAP. The House bill (which passed on a very narrow vote of 213-211) threatens to take food off the tables of over 2 million low-income people nationwide. Here in Washington, the proposed cuts in the House bill could eliminate benefits for 60,000 individuals, mostly working families with children.

The Senate bill, however, protects SNAP benefits and nearly doubles the investment for states to test out innovations in employment and training that will move people off SNAP and into good-paying jobs. The Senate bill also protects and strengthens key programs that help small and mid-scale growers, so they can keep their farms in business. The bill does all of this without harming SNAP for our neighbors in need.

Protecting and strengthening SNAP is at the top of our federal policy agenda: SNAP is our first line of defense against hunger. SNAP is used to buy food at grocery stores, farmers markets, and farm stands, generating economic activity and creating jobs in our local economies. Since SNAP provides 12 meals for every one meal provided by a food bank, we know that charity is not enough: without SNAP, the hunger relief system would be overwhelmed.

Throughout the Farm Bill process, Northwest Harvest has been meeting with members of our Congressional delegation, both in DC and throughout our state. We’ve been raising public awareness about the importance of SNAP through our advocacy alerts, interviews with newspapers and television stations, and press statements. We’ve shared stories about the difference SNAP makes for struggling families that we learn from talking with food banks and focus groups participants.