For decades, the United States has invested in programs to bring us closer to a future where all children and families have access to healthy, affordable food. Through programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and school meals, advocates and lawmakers have helped families put food on the table; enabled schools to feed students every day; and provided healthy foods to pregnant and postpartum women and their young children.
These programs have helped to curb poverty, improve health, boost children’s learning, and generate revenue for communities. But now, all that progress is at risk.
The U.S. House of Representatives’ recently passed budget resolution directs Congress to cut $230 billion from agriculture and food programs, including SNAP, over the next 10 years to offset tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. As part of the same process, the House is considering a staggering $12 billion in cuts to school meal programs, potentially stripping reliable, nutritious meals from millions of children. If ultimately enacted, these cuts would put millions of people's health and wellbeing at risk, send poverty and food insecurity rates soaring, and harm local economies.
It is unconscionable that lawmakers could make it even harder for people to afford healthy food at a time when many are already struggling to make ends meet. Fortunately, there is still time for Congress to safeguard these benefits, which are a lifeline for people in every corner of America.
Take Shayna Horne, for example, who cares for her two young children and husband. Both veterans, Shayna and her husband, who has a disability, were unsure how they would make ends meet as they transitioned out of the military and settled into their new home in Texas. Thankfully, they qualified for SNAP, which allowed Shayna to care for her family as they got back on their feet.
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SNAP was also life-changing for Jennifer Wells-Marshall, who, on top of attending college and raising her daughter, worked every day of the week to pay her bills. But even that income wasn’t enough to cover her expenses. SNAP helped her stay in school, work, and feed her family. She eventually earned her PhD, and now her daughter is completing her college degree on a full academic scholarship.
Stories like Shayna’s and Jennifer’s are everywhere. People across the country rely on SNAP. They are children, seniors, people with disabilities, and hard-working parents. They live in rural, suburban, and urban communities. They are people who need a bit of help, often for just a short period of time.
Decades of research shows how effective SNAP is not only at curbing hunger but also boosting local economies, job growth, and more. Every $1 spent on SNAP generates up to $1.80 in economic activity, such as increased consumer spending, job creation, and lower health care costs. One billion dollars spent on SNAP supports more than 13,000 jobs and creates $32 million in farm income. SNAP has been particularly effective at reducing poverty in rural areas.
WIC and the federal school meal programs come with their own returns on investment. They both improve nutrition and health. WIC also helps reduce poverty, while healthy school meals support better academic performance among students. The list could go on and on for either program.
Government leaders have long recognized the value of such programs. WIC has existed for 50 years, SNAP for 60 years, and school meal programs for over 75 years. In just the past two decades, leaders across party lines have invested in all of these programs by improving nutrition standards for school meals, expanding the WIC food package to offer a more diverse range of options, and calculating SNAP benefits to better reflect what food actually costs.
Congress must protect and build upon this progress for children, families, and communities—not undercut it to give wealthy individuals a break they simply do not need.
The lasting consequences of these cuts are nearly impossible to overstate. Experts warn that if families lose eligibility for SNAP, they could also lose their eligibility for WIC. This could mean more than 359,000 pregnant women, infants and children lose eligibility for two vital food programs—with nowhere else to turn.
Every community in every ZIP code should be a place where people can live their healthiest lives. That starts by ensuring everyone has the healthy food they need to thrive, especially our kids and grandkids.
Right now about 10 million children in communities already live in poverty. The budget cuts under consideration would further jeopardize the health, education, and future of millions of children and have widespread effects on communities—deepening inequality and weakening the foundation of local economies, schools, and public health systems.
There is still time for Congress to choose the right path and safeguard access to healthy foods for children and families. Lawmakers must find the will to do so—and fast.
Jamie Bussel is a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.