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John,
Right-wing members of the House are attacking nutrition programs that are critical to families with low incomes.
The House Agriculture bill slashes funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) by $185 million below FY2023 levels and cuts fruits and vegetable benefits for more than 5 million participants.1
And soon, the House will vote on appropriations for the agriculture bill and extremists in the House are targeting The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)—a federal program that moves food from farms to food banks in order to serve people facing hunger. 20% of the food distributed from Feeding America food banks comes from TEFAP.2
In the wealthiest nation on earth, tens of millions of people facing hunger is a policy choice. Contact your representative today and tell them to oppose cuts to essential food programs.
TAKE ACTION
They’re taking food away from babies, toddlers, and pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding parents. The House GOP’s plan is to gut the benefits for fruits and vegetables put in place based on recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences―cutting benefits for 1.5 million parents and 3.5 million children ages 1-4.
The result of these cuts would lead to negative pregnancy-related and child health outcomes. Early access to healthy and nutritious food is critical for both fetal and child development. Access to WIC is associated with healthier birth rates, lower risk of infant death, and improved child cognitive function and overall health. But the funding for WIC is so low in the House bill that it will not likely serve all those seeking help—parents, babies, and toddlers may have to be put on waiting lists.
Cuts to TEFAP will hurt food banks across the country, especially in rural areas. TEFAP is a rural lifeline—serving more than 96% of rural counties in 2020. In 2022, 49 million people received assistance from food banks and food pantries—that’s one in six Americans.3
The current House Appropriations budget of $80 million for food banks to store and transport food for FY2024 is a $12 million reduction from FY2023 levels, despite rising costs, forcing food banks to buy less food in order to cover these costs. It’s not enough to meet the needs of food banks and the people they serve.
All of these drastic cuts to food assistance programs in the agriculture funding bill come on the heels of harsh restrictions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) program.
And while extremists in the House want to take away nutritional assistance from young children, their parents and underserved communities, they are moving legislation to gut the IRS so that wealthy individuals and corporations can continue to cheat on their taxes.
Enough is enough. It’s time for Congress to show up for vulnerable communities and reject cuts to essential nutrition programs. Click here to send a letter to your representative urging them to vote down draconian cuts to TEFAP and WIC.
Thank you for all you do to save essential programs,
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs
1 House Republicans’ Agriculture Appropriations Bill Would Cut WIC Benefits for 5 Million Participants, Put SNAP Benefits at Risk for 1 Million Older Adults
2 Our Lawmakers Must Invest in TEFAP
3 1 in 6 People Received Help from Charitable Food Sector in 2022
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