Today, First Focus Campaign for Children, joined by members of the Child and Student Nutrition Alliance, and other child advocacy organizations sent this letter to Representative Glenn Thompson, chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture to express our opposition to the House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill Proposal.
Excerpt from the letter:
We are particularly concerned because the draft rescinds the necessary updates to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) which determines the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for children. Your committee’s proposal is not grounded in the reality of what American families are facing when it comes to food security. The proposal prohibits SNAP from implementing changes to the TFP if they are not cost-neutral, and we firmly believe that this draconian plan will harm children’s health and our country’s economic future. We urge you to prioritize the needs of America’s families and to take every possible step to protect the nutritional well being of children in any future draft of the Farm Bill. Nearly two-thirds of all SNAP benefits go directly to the 14.6 million children enrolled in the program. SNAP is proven to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity and metabolic disease and actually improves health outcomes for children in both the short and long term. A lack of food, caused by a lack of access to financial assistance to purchase nutritional food, is proven to contribute to developmental delays, poor immune functioning, and worsened mental health outcomes and is especially harmful to disabled children.