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Dear Rob,
Hello! A couple weeks ago we wrote you about the billions of dollars in proposed cuts to SNAP in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate budgets despite the fact that one in five kids in the U.S. rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) for their meals each day. [1] Ridiculously, some in Congress are still pushing those cuts.
This is why we need you to take action TODAY!
Moms and dads need to speak up and tell Congress “hands off of SNAP!”: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ProtectSNAP/?t=5&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
Now is the time to raise our voices even louder for our families! Congress will be coming back to Washington, D.C. next week to make final decisions about SNAP. And elected leaders are calling us to ask how many people have signed on to this open letter. Decision-makers are paying attention! The more people who sign on, the bigger the impact we’ll have together. It’s time to pump up the volume. It’s a critical moment to mobilize families in support of SNAP!
This is a big deal: The proposed cuts to SNAP are extreme and would result in struggling children and families going without food. Our partners at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimate that the $125 billion cut to SNAP in the U.S. House budget would result in 11 to 12 million people being cut from the program. [2] Disproportionately, this would harm children, women, the disabled, and the elderly.
Congress is coming back to Washington, D.C. on Monday. We have a short amount of time to make a big difference.
Will you join me in writing our members of Congress and telling them “hands off SNAP!”? http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ProtectSNAP/?t=7&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
Thank you for being a strong voice for children and families across the country.
-Elyssa, Kristin and the entire MomsRising.org team
P.S. After you sign on, will you help us double down our efforts in stopping these cuts to SNAP by forwarding this email to your friends and family and posting this link to Facebook and Twitter? http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ProtectSNAP/?t=10&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
P.P.S. Scroll down to see more information in the message we sent a couple of weeks ago.
[1] U.S. Census Bureau. “One in Five Children Receive Food Stamps, Census Bureau Reports.” January 28, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5519?t=12&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[2] Dorothy Rosenbaum and Brynne Keith-Jennings. “House Budget Would Slash SNAP By $125 Billion Over Ten Years.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 20, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5572?t=14&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
To: Rob
From: Elyssa
Subject: Hands off SNAP!
Dear Rob,
Some U.S. members of Congress are at it again: they are literally trying to take food out of the mouths of hungry children and families. This week the House of Representatives and Senate proposed their budgets and the legislation attempts to gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps).
We can’t let Congress get away with this again! One in five children in the U.S. rely on SNAP for their meals, yet Congress keeps making major cuts to the program while giving bigger tax breaks to big business and billionaires! [1]
Moms and dads need to speak up and tell Congress “hands off of SNAP!”: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ProtectSNAP/?t=16&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
SNAP helps real families trying to make ends meet. Families like Lorraine’s: “I was a middle class hard-working professional, until my marriage ended around the same time as the recession hit. I suddenly became the unemployed single mother of two girls, ages 4 and 7. [After endless job searching and selling off many of my possessions] a close friend suggested I apply for food stamps. His family had used them. That night, thinking of my girls, I piggybacked off of the neighbors’ wireless signal and Googled “how to apply for food stamps.” A few weeks later, it was a huge relief to trudge up the stairs to my apartment with my happy kids, carrying bags of fresh groceries. It felt better than Christmas. These are tough times, and I learned the hard way that pride doesn’t put a warm meal on the table, but that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) does.”
Like Lorraine’s children, one in five children rely on SNAP to put food on the table. The House budget hits SNAP with a double whammy. First it cuts the program by $140 billion over ten years. [2] And then as if that were not enough, the budget block grants SNAP, turning control over to the states by 2021. [3] This might sound fine, but what this really would mean is SNAP would be less able to respond to increased need during an economic downturn (like the one many of us are still trying to pull ourselves out of). In addition, states would be able to shift funds away from food assistance to other purposes, meaning our families struggling to put food on the table wouldn’t be able to get the service we deeply need. [4] The Senate budget also includes major funding cuts that would result in less SNAP dollars for our families.
Converting SNAP to a block grant would harm the millions of low-income families who rely on it now or will need help in the future. Currently 46 million people access SNAP—how will moms and dads provide food for their families if these draconian measures are passed through Congress? [5]
We need your help in making our voices loud and clear. Write Congress TODAY and tell them “hands off of SNAP!”: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ProtectSNAP/?t=18&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
Children and families shouldn’t have to go hungry while big businesses and billionaires rack up more tax breaks! The Congressional budgets lower tax rates for large corporations and wealthy individuals, creating a windfall for the wealthiest few and pushing struggling families deeper into poverty. [6] The members of Congress who support this budget claim they are helping the economy, but in reality, slashing funding for food stamps only hinders our economic growth. SNAP doesn’t just help individual families, it also helps our local economies. According to the USDA, SNAP is a key public benefit program, which also serves as an economic stimulus, creating an economic boost that ripples through the economy when new SNAP benefits are redeemed. [7]
So join me in calling on Congress to do the right thing and protect the funding and integrity of SNAP: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/ProtectSNAP/?t=20&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
This is a real threat to a real important program, so we need all hands on deck. Once you write your members of Congress, post the action link to Twitter and Facebook, and forward this email to your friends. We have to make sure we come together to protect SNAP for kids and families.
Thank you for being a strong voice for children and families across the country.
-Elyssa, Donna, and the entire MomsRising.org team
[1] U.S. Census Bureau. “One in Five Children Receive Food Stamps, Census Bureau Reports.” January 28, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5519?t=24&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[2] Bob Greenstein. “Statement by Robert Greenstein, President, On House Budget Chariman’s Plan.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 17, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5521?t=26&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[3] John Bresnahan. “GOP budget plan: Slash spending, transform Medicare, boost military.” Politico, March 17, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5522?t=28&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[4] “Chairman Ryan’s Baseless Attack on SNAP/Food Stamps.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5523?t=30&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[5] Arthur Delaney. “House Republican Budget Whacks Food Stamps and Medicaid.” Huffington Post, March 17, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5524?t=32&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[6] Harry Stein and Anna Chu. “Congressional Republican Leaders Claim to Support the Middle Class, but Their Budgets Only Work for the Wealthy Few.” Center for American Progress, March 18, 2015. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5525?t=34&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
[7] “The Business Case for Increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation.” United States Department of Agriculture, July 25, 2013. http://action.momsrising.org/go/5534?t=36&akid=6549.847037.9CePSg
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