The Farm Bill is up for reauthorization again this year, and proposed cuts could hurt families on Vashon that are already struggling.
The Farm Bill, renewed every five years, is a huge piece of federal legislation.
Many assume the mega-bill affects only big corporate farms and the kinds of government subsidies they receive. But this critical piece of legislation also provides a venue for developing policies that support smaller farmers, encourage local food production and regulate genetically modified crops and our food supply. On top of that, a huge percentage of the Farm Bill is dedicated to federal nutrition programs.
Our nation’s number one program to prevent hunger is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food stamp program funded through the Farm Bill. Currently, about 46 million Americans rely on food stamps to help put food on the table. The reach and impact of this program far outweigh the offerings of food banks and meal programs. The relationship between grassroots hunger relief nonprofits offering direct food services and SNAP is one of complimentary support. Where food banks and meal programs leave off, food stamps can fill in and vice versa to some degree.
Food stamp benefits, while life-saving, are not considerable. The average benefit is $1.49 per meal or $4.46 per day. SNAP rolls have climbed significantly with the recession, which is the purpose of the program — a safety net designed to help Americans during hard economic times with higher unemployment and underemployment. As the economy truly improves and people are able to get back to work with jobs that offer a livable income, those rolls will go back down.
Here on Vashon, we are not immune. The Vashon Maury Community Food Bank is serving nearly 15 percent of our Island population over the course of a year. The state Department of Social Health and Services’ mobile office has worked with and signed up 309 Vashon households for food stamps in its visits since the fall of 2010, and Vashon currently has 478 households receiving SNAP benefits, according to state records.
In the Farm Bill this year — an election year — political posturing is rampant. One of the biggest items under attack is the SNAP program, a program doing its designed job better than most federal programs out there. A common myth is that the program is hugely abused. The reality is that this program has one of the smallest percentages of abuse of any federal program. The abuse, when it does occur, is most often at the retailer level. Additionally, many families on SNAP are working, just not enough to cover basic living expenses, whether that is due to low wages or Islanders’ ability to secure only limited, part-time work, the kind of jobs that are very prevalent on Vashon.
The U.S. Senate recently passed a version of the Farm Bill that contains $4.5 billion in cuts to the food stamp program. The House version, called the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act, which just passed in the House Agriculture Committee, is even worse: It would cut $16.5 billion from SNAP.
Such a huge cut would eliminate food assistance to 2 to 3 million low-income people and kick some 280,000 children off of the free school meal program, where eligibility is tied to being enrolled in SNAP. The House bill would also reinstate asset tests and eliminate the ability of states to adopt broader eligibility criteria.
In Washington, 80,000 people currently receiving SNAP benefits would be dropped from the program. It would also end a state option to coordinate the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and food stamp benefits. The cut in this “heat and eat” option alone would equate to 234,000 households in Washington state alone losing about $90 per month in food stamp benefits.
On the ground, that means that to qualify for food stamps, your car would have to be market valued at less than $5,000 (regardless of how little equity you may actually have in the vehicle) and you would be penalized and dropped (or not qualify) if you managed to have savings of anything over $2,000. For families needing a hand through a tough spot, temporary job loss or health issues, this is devastating. This is at odds with building strength and resiliency in families to overcome or avoid long term-poverty.
The Farm Bill may seem far away and removed from our lives here on Vashon. But in fact, how Congress responds to the 2012 version will greatly affect Vashon residents who are struggling. I talked with some food stamp recipients here in our community about the impacts of even losing $90 per month in benefits on their families (the Senate version). The stories were devastating.
If these proposed cuts go through, some of our neighbors will likely go hungry and children will suffer nutritionally, despite the best efforts of our community, our food bank and our various meal programs to ensure everyone has food on their table.
— Yvonne Pitrof is executive director of the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank.
