Monday , March 18 2024
Members of the Senate and House are speaking out against proposed cuts in food aid.

Representatives Speak Out Against Food Aid Cuts

Members of the Senate and House are speaking out against proposed cuts in food aid that have been introduced in the Farm Bill legislation.

Senator Sherrod Brown (OH) authored an amendment for the Senate discussion of the 2013 Farm Bill, which would provide much needed support to the nation’s food banks.

Brown’s amendment specifically would increase funding for the Federal Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which supplies food banks all across the country.

Food banks depend on public donations and federal support. However, TEFAP supplies have gone down in recent years, while demand for food aid has increased. There are over 50 million Americans who suffer from hunger.

Senator Brown says, “The farm bill is a disaster assistance bill for farmers, but also for families who are grappling with poverty, unemployment and declining wages. While agriculture and food services is our state’s largest industry, more than two million Ohioans required assistance from food banks last year. This amendment restores commonsense funding levels – passed with strong bipartisan support – for efforts that help the neediest Americans.”

Representative Betty McCollum (MN), spoke out against potential cuts to the food stamps program (SNAP). McCollum stated, “Children will go to school hungry – to bed hungry.  Seniors who built our country will worry about where they will get their next meal.  A person with a disability will be more vulnerable when this cut denies them food.  And making it more difficult for Americans living on less than $800 a month to purchase nutritious food is not what we were elected to do. “

McCollum added, “In the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world, this cut is simply unconscionable.”

 

About William Lambers

William Lambers is the author of several books including Ending World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids Around the World. This book features over 50 interviews with officials from the UN World Food Programme and other charities discussing school feeding programs that fight child hunger. He is also the author of Nuclear Weapons, The Road to Peace: From the Disarming of the Great Lakes to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Open Skies for Peace, The Spirit of the Marshall Plan: Taking Action Against World Hunger, School Lunches for Kids Around the World, The Roadmap to End Global Hunger, From War to Peace and the Battle of Britain. He is also a writer for the History News Service. His articles have been published by newspapers including the Cincinnati Enquirer, Des Moines Register, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Buffalo News, San Diego Union Tribune, the Providence Journal, Free Lance-Star (VA), the Bakersfield Californian, the Washington Post, Miami Herald (FL), Chicago Sun-Times, the Patriot Ledger (MA), Charleston Sunday Gazette Mail (WV), the Cincinnati Post, Salt Lake Tribune (UT), North Adams Transcript (MA), Wichita Eagle (KS), Monterey Herald (CA), Athens Banner-Herald (GA) and the Duluth News Journal. His articles also appear on History News Network (HNN) and Think Africa Press. Mr. Lambers is a graduate of the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio with degrees in Liberal Arts (BA) and Organizational Leadership (MS). He is also a member of the Feeding America Blogger Council.

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