A Food Fight is Raging Again in Congress
Food funding—how much and who gets it—is the heart of the Farm Bill, an omnibus multi-year law that spans an array of agricultural and food programs. Though it sounds like it’s about farming, its biggest component— more than 80%—is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which aids lower-income and food-insecure Americans. And that’s what the fight is about.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 41.1 million people across the country receive SNAP benefits, with more than 1 million recipients in Massachusetts. Some U.S. legislators believe SNAP recipients get too many benefits, don’t work enough or might be discouraged from working because of aid. Others think that SNAP payments are too low, the path to obtaining SNAP too difficult and the work and reporting requirements onerous. Final decisions on the Farm Bill will probably be delayed to late summer, but in the meantime Republicans, especially on the far right, are insisting that SNAP costs are too high and should be curbed.
To Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA 2nd District), a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee and co-chair of the Hunger Caucus, the far-right arguments are ludicrous. Speaking by phone from Washington, he says: “The idea you can save money by increasing hunger is just stupid.”
He goes on to say, “Look, I’m somebody who believes food is a fundamental right.” He acknowledges that others “demonize” SNAP, using stereotypes that the poor are undeserving and lazy, and see little political advantage in supporting the program. “If you meet a hungry child, it just breaks your heart,” McGovern says. “If it doesn’t….” pausing as his voice fades.
“WE HAVE THE MONEY, BUT WE DON’T
HAVE THE POLITICAL WILL TO MAKE
SURE NO ONE IS FOOD INSECURE.”
The disagreements bring up questions: What is SNAP and who gets it? How difficult is it to get on the rolls for SNAP? Are the payments sufficient? What are the work requirements for SNAP, and how do these apply? And are there any plans or proposals that would simplify SNAP or make it better?
SNAP and related Farm Bill programs aid low-income people, the elderly poor and those who are disabled. To get SNAP payments, your income and family income must be below a certain level. You must have legal status, and, in most cases, have resided in the U.S. for five years, meaning new refugees or those here illegally usually cannot receive SNAP. And if you are able bodied and of working age (up to 59 in Massachusetts) without dependents under a certain age, you must show that you work at least 80 hours a month, and report your hours and status regularly.
Applying for SNAP is not a snap. Documentation of income, household members, work status, income status from work and other sources, health and insurance status, immigration status and other information is necessary. Jennifer Lemmerman, chief policy officer of the food assistance nonprofit Project Bread, points to other deterrents such as misinformation around the program, lack of computer access, and the stigma around using SNAP. The payments in Massachusetts range from about $291 for a single person with an income of about $2,400 a month to about $1,300 for a family of six and a monthly income of $6,700, but can be higher depending on the number in the household, medical conditions and other factors.
To anyone who goes grocery shopping regularly, the monthly amounts provided by SNAP are almost laughable, and as advocates and recipients say, “by midmonth, people are looking for other sources to find food.” Then, Lemmerman says, “They go to the food pantry. Emergency food becomes the stop gap,” putting tremendous strain on the charitable community.
Sarah Buck, a SNAP recipient from Western Massachusetts who is disabled and lives on about $1,000 a month, laughs when asked if her payments stretch through the month. “It may sound like a lot,” she says, “but when you go to the grocery store…” Buck says she goes everywhere she can to find free food, and is lucky she owns an old car and lives in subsidized housing. It’s a lot of work being poor, she says ruefully.
Despite old stereotypes of the lazy poor, more than 33% of those on SNAP work and most of those work fulltime, but the work requirement and reporting rules are especially difficult. Says Ellen Messer, a food and nutrition anthropologist with Tufts University and Boston University, “It becomes a time-management problem.” Low-income workers in industries such as fast food often have fluctuating schedules with hours varying week to week or even day to day; frequent changes in status or duties, and frequent layoffs. Each time a recipient’s take-home pay goes over the SNAP limits or they lose a position, benefits can be denied, and then the recipient has to reapply for benefits. This does lead to many leaving the program, according to several reports, and to increases in homelessness. As Rep. Mc- Govern sees it, the work requirements and a recent increase in the age limit “are just plain cruel.”
In Massachusetts there are initiatives to help those on SNAP. Messer points to the Healthy Incentives Program that enables SNAP recipients who buy fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and farm stands to add that amount to their SNAP benefits, and also community senior centers that offer information and aid in applying for SNAP as well as some hospitals and other types of community centers. Salem Pantry Executive Director Robyn Burns says that the pantry has just added services to help SNAP applicants, a process that took time and effort. Although SNAP isn’t used at food pantries where the food is free, Burns feels that the added service helps their clients, who are often working multiple jobs, are elderly or disabled or don’t feel comfortable going to a state office. “We’re trying to eliminate one extra hurdle.”
Burns theorizes that the pandemic changed many views around the poor as job losses and fears about having sufficient food suddenly affected a broad swath of the public. But to Rep. McGovern, the issue is about more than compassion. “If people can’t afford to put nutritious food on the table, health issues arise,” such as diabetes, heart disease and even a child’s inability to concentrate in school, and that hurts all of us, he says.
When asked what could be done to improve SNAP, ideas range from more flexibility in the work requirements to more emphasis on nutrition education. Simple changes such allowing recipients to buy hot or prepared foods with SNAP benefits would help those who don’t have time or even kitchens, says Lemmerman. She also suggests more aid for students and a reduction in the time legal immigrants have to be in the U.S. to qualify for SNAP. Rep. McGovern wonders why can’t funds be used to teach people more about nutrition, even how to cook. Recipient Buck thinks that automatic enrollment to streamline applications to SNAP would help.
At the core, though, is political and societal will. “Hunger is a political condition,” says McGovern. In the richest country in the world “we have the money, but we don’t have the political will to make sure no one is food insecure.”
He adds: “To continue what we’re doing is costing this country dearly.”
