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Tell Sec. of Agriculture Perdue:
"The USDA’s new proposed SNAP rule would cut food stamp benefits from millions of low-income families, exacerbating struggles and causing financial strain. "
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John,
The Trump administration is at it again, working overtime to find new ways to undermine working families. This time, they are focused on destabilizing families that desperately need help putting food on their table.
The administration is once again trying to bypass Congress―sneaking in billions of dollars in cuts to SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) through a new proposed rule change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This misguided rule would pull the rug out from under families across the country, cutting SNAP benefits for more than 7 million people, including 3 million children.
That’s right: 3 million children across our country would face increased difficulty getting enough healthy food to eat, if this rule goes into effect.
This new effort by the Trump administration would undermine states’ ability to account for the costs of utilities as they calculate SNAP benefits. This new proposed USDA rule unfairly standardizes and caps Standard Utility Allowance calculations across the country based on inadequate survey data―resulting in dramatic cuts to food stamps.
We need to stand together and defend this essential life line. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, reduces hunger and alleviates the crisis faced by food insecure families by providing assistance so they can purchase nutritious food.
Stand with the Coalition on Human Needs and our partners today! Tell the USDA to reject cuts to SNAP benefits that would hurt millions of people: children, seniors, people with disabilities and working families.
What exactly is the Trump administration up to?
The USDA’s latest proposed rule change would slice $4.5 billion from SNAP over five years.[1] They’re attempting to limit a state's ability to determine how heating, cooling and phone bills should be taken into account when determining SNAP food assistance. Instead of having states set levels, the USDA will force a clumsy top-down system on all 50 states. The end result: fewer benefits for millions of struggling families who need help the most.
Stand with CHN and our allies! Together let’s tell the United States Department of Agriculture to reject this misguided rule. Tell Sec. Sonny Perdue: No, we won’t let you take food away from millions of working families!
People have substantially less money for food if their utility costs are high. But USDA, through this misguided rule change, wants to take power from the states to take these unavoidable household costs into account. That means desperately needed assistance will be cut by billions of dollars.
We are the richest country in the history of the world. We have countless billionaires, and a disastrous income gap that creates inequality not seen since the Gilded Age. Cutting the SNAP program, and taking food from families who need it most, will only make rising levels of inequality even worse.
Shortly after taking office, Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress passed a $1.5 trillion tax cut, which benefits the rich and corporations. Now they are attempting to pay for those tax cuts by cutting critical programs for working families.
Click here to send an official comment to the USDA: Don’t take food from low-income families who are struggling to get by.
Some of the cuts could be as much as $110 a month! To a family having difficulty making ends meet, such a cut will cause impossible choices: feed your children, pay for heat, or pay for medical care.
Beyond belief, nearly 10,000 households, according to the USDA’s own data, are estimated to lose SNAP benefits altogether under these heartless cuts.[2]
We cannot let these cuts go through! Join CHN and our allies in submitting an official comment to the USDA today.
SNAP is one of the most effective federal programs that we have. SNAP lifted 3.2 million Americans out of poverty in 2018, according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, and is nearly as effective as the Earned Income Tax Credit in lifting families above the poverty line.[3]
Let’s remind the Trump administration how important SNAP is. Thank you for taking a moment to defend the food security of millions of families across the United States.
Thank you for your support,
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs
[1] https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/snap-sua-regulatory-impact-analysis.pdf
[2] https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/snap-sua-regulatory-impact-analysis.pdf
[3] https://www.frac.org/wp-content/uploads/frac-facts-snap-strengths.pdf
Coalition on Human Needs
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