Broad Coalition Urges Senate Leaders to Boost SNAP During Crisis

Nearly 2,500 organizations from across the country signed on to a letter urging the Senate to boost SNAP benefits in the next coronavirus relief package. 

The letter asks for a 15 percent boost in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) maximum benefit, an increase in the SNAP minimum monthly benefit from $16 to $30, and a suspension of SNAP time limits and rules changes that would cut SNAP eligibility and benefits.  

Read press release from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
 
Among the national organizations singing the letter are Bread for the World, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Islamic Relief USA,  the Episcopal Church, Challah for Hunger, 1,000 Days, A Place at the Table, Meals on Wheels America, Children's Defense Fund, and hundreds more. 

The New Mexico signators include some participants in the Food, Hunger, Water and Agriculture Policy Work Group, including Agri-Cultura Cooperative Network, Feeding Santa Fe, Inc., New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, New Mexico First, New Mexico Healthy Soils Working Group, Roadrunner Food Bank, and the Food Depot.

Here is an excerpt 

June 18, 2020 
The Honorable Mitch McConnell 
Senate Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
U.S. Senate S-230, 
U.S. Capitol Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Chuck Schumer 
Senate Minority Leader  
U.S. Senate S-221, 
U.S. Capitol Building  
Washington, DC 20510 

Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer, 

Our nearly 2,500 undersigned national, regional, state, and local organizations urge immediate action to address the twin challenges of COVID-19 — protecting individuals and communities against hardship and jump-starting a strong economic recovery. SNAP benefit boosts can help limit the depth and duration of the human and economic tolls this crisis threatens to exact. 

COVID-19 has exacerbated already too high levels of food insecurity in America. According to the Urban Institute, in the early weeks of the pandemic, one in five U.S. adults experienced food insecurity

Also, in the early weeks of COVID-19, Labor Department data document that one of every four workers filed for unemployment insurance; the April unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent; and the combined rate of unemployed, discouraged, and part-time for economic reasons workers spiked above 22 percent.

Sufficient and timely federal government action is needed to prevent even more human suffering and lost productivity in the short and longer terms. 

SNAP is a proven countercyclical tool. Each $1 of SNAP benefits during a downturn generates between $1.50 and $1.80 in economic activity. Participants spend those benefits quickly, with positive impacts felt up and down the food chain — from farmers and food producers, to grocery retailers, stock clerks, and local economies.  

The lines for food at emergency feeding sites offer a picture of the human suffering that data can only begin to explain. This crisis demands a response that is commensurate with its scope and seriousness. For every one meal provided through the Feeding America food bank network, SNAP can provide nine meals on the normal rails of commerce. SNAP boosts must be an important part of an effective, comprehensive response to COVID-19.

 Here is the full letter and see the full list of signators