For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 28, 2018
Contact: Morgan Williams Grogan, morgan.williams@
Senate Protects and Strengthens Food Assistance for Working Families, Older Americans, Kids and People with Disabilities
Washington, DC – In response to the bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate on a version of the Farm Bill that protects the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Health Care for America Now Co-Directors Ethan Rome and Margarida Jorge released the following statement:
“The Senate Farm Bill upholds our country’s long-standing, bipartisan commitment to feed the hungry by protecting food assistance for millions of working families, older Americans, kids, veterans and people with disabilities. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is one of our best tools in the fight against poverty. And having enough food to eat is a basic component of good health and improves long-term health outcomes.
“The shameful, partisan bill House Republicans passed last week, which cuts $19 billion in food assistance and would kick 2 million people off the program, should be left in the dust when the House and Senate work to develop a conference bill. There is no compromising on whether or not Americans can feed their families, and this issue is too important to get caught up in election year politics.
“Congressional Republicans’ priorities are wrong. Instead of working to take food and health care away from Americans, they should make bipartisan investments in health care and education and create good jobs. If Republicans can spend $1.4 trillion on tax breaks for big corporations and the very wealthy, Congress can certainly afford to make sure single moms, seniors and people with disabilities can afford dinner.”
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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.
