U.S. Senate DEFEATS Anti-SNAP Amendment, including Sens Kerry and Brown!
This is late breaking news, and many of you may not have even known trouble was brewing. Late last night the U.S. Senate voted DOWN a proposal to cut SNAP benefits including BOTH our Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown!! The vote was 41 Yes to 58 Nays on one very harmful amendment. This is terrific news and BOTH our Massachusetts Senators should receive calls of thanks and praise. In addition, we ask that you call Senator Brown's office and ask him to sign onto NY Senator Gillibrand's letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to protect SNAP and anti-hunger benefits. To call Senators Brown and Kerry, here is the Capital Switchboard number: 1-202-224-3121 or toll free: 1-866-220-0044
Details of the vote, the roll call and next steps and link to Senator Gillibrant's letter are in the FRAC email update. BIG thanks to FRAC, CBPP and all the national groups who worked this issue round the clock. Special THANKS to those of you in MA who responded to urgent last minute pleas seeking your help to reach Kerry, Brown and/or Key Mass Republicans to call Sen Brown.
What happened in the US Senate? A number of anti-SNAP amendments were filed as the Senate was deliberating the FY2012 Appropriations bill this week, including one by Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama seeking to eliminate "Categorical Eligibility" under SNAP and others to cut large amounts from SNAP and/or roll back the ARRA cost of living increase. Senator Sessions pushed for a vote on the elimination of categorical eligibility. This would have had a huge negative impact on Massachusetts working families, seniors and persons with disabilities. Categorical eligibility is a federal option that allows states like Massachusetts to provide SNAP benefits to families with children who have income between 130% and 200% FPL but who also have high shelter or child care costs that gives them low net income. These families would otherwise not qualify for any SNAP benefits (nor free school meals) if subject to the 130% FPL gross income test. Categorical eligibility also allows MA to not impose an asset test on SNAP recipients, especially seniors and persons with disability (we do have an asset test for any disabled or elder person whose gross income exceeds 200% FPL). Although few SNAP households even have countable assets, the prospect of having to screen for assets and get bank statements proving lack of assets would pose an administrative nightmare for DTA, would lengthen the SNAP application and has in the past created much confusion and discouragement for low income seniors seeking SNAP.
Does this mean that SNAP and other safetynet programs are protected from future cuts? NO! The battle goes on, but we must a) celebrate every victory and b) use this opportunity to remind the Senate and House of the critical importance of SNAP and why it needs to be protected!
REMINDER: Next SNAP Coalition meeting, Tuesday, October 25th, 10 to Noon at St Francis House in Boston.
>>> Food Research and Action Center
October 21, 2011
* The News in Brief and a Look Ahead
* Congressional Spotlight: Ag Appropriations
* Budget Beat: Protect SNAP
* Agency Action: USDA Regulations
* Web Watch: Child Nutrition
* Press and Polls…and More
The News in Brief and a Look Ahead
The News in Brief: This week proposals to cut SNAP funding emerged during Senate debate on an FY 2012 appropriations bill (H.R. 2112). Anti-hunger groups reacted quickly, generating calls to Congress to reject any SNAP cuts, whether proposed on spending bills, deficit reduction plans or Farm Bill legislation.
Defeat of SNAP Amendment: Around midnight on the evening of October 20th, the Senate, on a vote of 41 to 58, rejected Senator Jeff Sessions’ (R-AL) amendment to H.R. 2112 that would have eliminated states’ option to apply Categorical Eligibility rules in SNAP. For background on the substance of the amendment, see Congressional Spotlight below. The following Republican Senators joined most Democrats in voting against the amendment: Scott Brown (MA), Dan Coats (IN), Thad Cochran (MS), Susan Collins (ME), Richard Lugar (IN), Marco Rubio (FL), and Olympia Snowe (ME). Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) was the only Democrat to vote in favor. Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) did not vote. Click here for Roll Call Vote #182.
Action Needed Over Senate Recess: Senators will be home during the week of October 24th. 1) Thank Senators who opposed the Sessions amendment. 2) Attend town halls and other meetings with Senators and invite them to visit nutrition program sites. 3) Urge Senators to sign on to Senator Kirtsen Gillibrand’s (D-NY) letter (pdf) to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Super Committee) in support of SNAP and other federal safety net programs.
Congressional Spotlight: Agriculture Appropriations
Background on Sessions Amendment: During the week of October 17th the Senate debated H.R. 2112, which provides FY 2012 funding for USDA and certain other agencies. One from Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) sought to eliminate states’ option to apply SNAP categorical eligibility rules (Cat El), through which SNAP’s asset test has been dropped or otherwise improved in more than 40 states. The Cat El change would have cut SNAP by $10 billion. It would have taken one million needy people out of the SNAP program, take free school breakfast and lunch away from 200,000 low-income children, increase hunger among children and seniors alike, and vastly increase state administrative costs and red tape. The Senate rejected the amendment on a vote of 41 to 58.
Ag Appropriations: Final Senate action H.R. 2112 will be held over until after the week-long Senate recess period (ending October 31st). It will set the stage for negotiations in a House/Senate conference committee that will aim for a final deal on the appropriations measure before the current Continuing Resolution (CR) funding government programs expires November 18th.
Budget Beat: Protect SNAP
Timeline: On a legislative track separate from annual appropriations, the Super Committee is charged with reporting out a deficit reduction plan by November 23rd. SNAP, school meals and most other low-income entitlement programs would be exempt from across-the-board cuts if Congress fails to pass the Super Committee’s plan by December 23rd, but are potentially at risk in a Super Committee plan. Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have recommended that cuts to programs under their jurisdiction total no more than $23 billion and by November 1st are expected to submit details on how those cuts should be apportioned.
Outlook on Cuts: “Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told rural reporters in a telephone call [on October 18th] that Stabenow, Roberts, Lucas and Peterson plan to achieve the $23 billion in savings by cutting $15 billion from direct payments and $4 billion each from conservation and nutrition programs, Reuters reported. Roberts and Lucas have said they believe savings can be achieved by cutting waste and fraud in the food stamp program and by creating efficiencies in administration. But Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action Center, the anti-hunger group, told The Hagstrom Report that ‘there is not money to be squeezed out on the administrative side,’ and that reducing money provided to the states for staff to administer the program would mean it would be harder for hungry people to qualify quickly for food stamps. Noting that the food stamp budget was cut to pay for teacher salaries and the child nutrition bill, Weill said that the super committee should follow the Simpson-Bowles Commission and the Gang of Six proposal, both of which protected food stamps and the child nutrition program from cuts.” See “Agricultural interests start to rumble over future of farm bill in super committee,” by Jerry Hagstrom, The Hagstrom Report, 10/18/11; subscription information available at the Report’s website.
Budget Message: Protect SNAP, child nutrition programs, and other safety net programs for low-income and vulnerable people from budget cuts by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. A balanced approach to reducing the deficit must include revenues.
Action Needed: Urge Senators to sign on to Senator Kirtsen Gillibrand’s (D-NY) letter (pdf) to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Super Committee) in support of SNAP and other federal safety net programs.
Flawed Proposals: Recently posted on the FRAC website are pieces opposing two proposals for cutting SNAP: the American Farm Bureau Federation’s recommendation that nutrition programs bear 30 percent of Ag reductions and the Lugar/Stutzman proposal (S. 1658/H.R. 3111) to cut the Farm Bill nutrition title by $14 billion.
Agency Action: USDA Regulations
National Group Letter on School Meal Regulatory Process: A letter to Congress from FRAC and national organizational allies urged Congress to reject any attempt to derail the school meal regulation process.
Interim Rule on Direct Certification for Free School Meals: October 24th is the deadline to comment on USDA’s interim rule regarding direct certification of children for free school meals.
SNAP Rules: A USDA proposed SNAP rule on requirements for data processing and information retrieval systems is open for public comment through October 24th. Follow this link for the proposed rules and directions for commenting.
Disaster SNAP: As of October 13th, FNS has provided over $80 million in Disaster SNAP (D-SNAP) benefits to 391,087 people in 249,025 households to help disaster survivors in 108 counties, 11 states and Puerto Rico in response to the extended power outages and flooding caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. SNAP replacement benefits and USDA Foods for congregate and household feeding are also being provided to disaster survivors. Visit the Disaster SNAP/Food Stamps page on FRAC’s website for information on how SNAP and other nutrition program resources can be accessed to assist victims of hurricanes and other disasters.
Web Watch: Child Nutrition
Child Nutrition Conference Calls and Webinars: See FRAC’s home page for links to register for School Breakfast and Afterschool Meals calls, including those on October 27th on messaging for School Breakfast and on November 16th on Building School Participation in After School Meals. Register here for the November 3rd webinar on Serving Meals and Snacks to Children on Weekends and School Holidays through the Afterschool Meal Program.
Press and Polls…and More
SNAP Healthy Difference: “Pediatric researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC), in partnership with Children's HealthWatch investigators in Boston, Minneapolis, Little Rock, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, have found that higher benefit amounts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) protected the health and well-being of very young, low-income children during a period of great financial hardship for many families in America. These findings were released as a policy brief on Oct. 12. In April 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) raised SNAP benefits across the board by a minimum of 13.6 percent. According to the researchers, in the two years after the benefit increase children in families receiving SNAP were 15 percent more likely to be classified as ‘well children’ than young children whose families were eligible for but did not receive SNAP. A ‘well child’ is defined as neither overweight nor underweight and whose parents report that s/he is in good health, has never been hospitalized and is developing normally for his/her age. ‘These results demonstrate that the improved SNAP benefit levels were a more effective “dosage” for sustaining children's health compared to pre-increase benefit levels, which were too low to protect against major health impacts in our population of young, low-income children,’ explained Deborah Frank, MD, director of BMC's Grow Clinic for Children and Founder and Principal Investigator of Children's HealthWatch….SNAP is an effective public health intervention designed to help meet the nutritional needs of American families in difficult times. The improved benefits are set to end in 2014 and may be considered for cuts in current deficit discussions, yet previous research showed that benefit levels before the ARRA increase were too low to afford a healthy diet. The ARRA legislation raised benefits closer to the actual cost of healthy food. ‘Health care strives to be evidence based – social policy should too. These results are evidence that higher SNAP benefits protect young children's health and should be sustained,’ she added.” See Press Release, “BMC pediatricians find increase in SNAP benefits associated with healthier children,” 10/12/11.
Food Stamp Challenge: “Beachwood residents Rona and Joel Fox are taking the Food Stamp Challenge as part of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs' Fighting Poverty with Faith project, directed by their daughter Elana Fox. The challenge, which runs from Thurs., Oct. 27-Thurs., Nov. 3, requires participants to live for one week on the average food stamp allotment of $31.50 a week - that's $4.50 a day; $1.50 a meal. ‘The idea is to gain a better appreciation of what food stamp clients are up against,’ said the Foxes in an email blast, ‘and ideally to motivate ourselves to advocate for continuation of their benefits in the face of state and federal efforts to cut budgets.’” See “Take the Food Stamp Challenge,” by Arlene Fine, Cleveland Jewish News, 10/20/11.
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Prepared by Food Research and Action Center, 1875 Conn. Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009; 202-986-2200; www.frac.org