For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Contact: Morgan Williams, morgan.williams@berlinrosen.com, 202-836-9890
Farm Bill Must Protect and Strengthen Food Assistance for Working Families
Washington, DC – In the response to the farm bill conference where members of Congress gathered to discuss the future of the farm bill and continued support for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), one of the nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs, Health Care for America Now Executive Director Margarida Jorge released the following statement:
“The final version of the Farm Bill, like the Senate bill that passed most recently, should uphold our country’s bipartisan commitment to feed the hungry and invest in the health and wellbeing of all people. SNAP protects food assistance for millions of working families, older Americans, children, veterans, and people with disabilities. It’s one of our most effective tools in the fight against poverty because it enables people to work, expands in moments of crisis like natural disasters and supplements struggling families with the most basic support: food. Having enough food to eat is essential to good health care and improves long-term health outcomes. Congress must reject new work requirement barriers that cut food support for families or amendments to the legislation that erode the integrity and efficiency of this important program. Instead of partisan attacks on the nation’s social safety net, lawmakers should be working across the aisle to strengthen SNAP by passing the Senate bill in conference.”
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Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is the national grassroots coalition that ran a $60 million five-and-a-half year campaign from 2008-2013 to pass, protect, and promote the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and protect Medicare and Medicaid. HCAN has come back together to fight the Republicans’ all-out effort to take away America’s health care and put people at the mercy of the health insurance companies again.
