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As negotiations for the 2023 Farm Bill get underway, CLASP is poised to ensure policymakers hear our voice and heed our advocacy about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Every five years, Congress decides eligibility rules and funding levels for the program. And the stakes couldn’t be higher for the 41 million people who receive SNAP to put food on the table: they face greater food insecurity now that pandemic-era emergency allotments have expired.
In a new fact sheet, CLASP experts and the Community Partnership Group—advocates with lived experience of benefit programs—articulate priorities for Congress to achieve a bold, anti-racist, and equitable vision for the program:
- SNAP benefits must be sufficient,
- SNAP must be available to all who need it,
- Trust, respect, and trauma-informed care must guide the program, and
- SNAP must encourage economic opportunity.
Over the coming months, CLASP and CPG members will offer unique insights and analysis to shape the debate and steer Congress to deliver on our priorities. We will be taking a deeper dive into USDA food plans that determine SNAP benefit levels; the unfair exclusion of immigrant families, college students, and those with prior felony drug convictions; the harmful impact of work requirements, the need to expand access to fruits and vegetables; and the racist policing of participant food choices such as the prohibition on hot foods.
In addition, we will offer our ideas for modernizing rules on SNAP employment and training and asset limits, so families aren’t penalized for earnings and savings.
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