Washington, D.C. — Today, all but 15 House Republicans voted to drop 3.8 million people, including 170,000 veterans, from the nutrition assistance program with their vote for a Farm Bill that cuts $40 billion from SNAP. Melissa Boteach, Director of the Center for American Progress’s Poverty to Prosperity Program, issued the following statement:
With the passage of a Farm Bill that slashes billions of dollars from the nutrition assistance program, House Republicans have voted to increase hunger in their districts. Nutrition assistance lifted 4 million people out of poverty last year, yet the House has pursued a policy that would deny the very basic nutrition assistance to working families, seniors, and veterans struggling to afford food, while costing our economy 55,000 jobs a year. With this vote, House Republicans have taken what used to be a bipartisan effort to pass a Farm Bill that tackled hunger and turned it into a political wedge against families hurting the most in this economy.
With one in five children living in households that run short on food, it is time to stop playing politics with hunger and work with the Senate to pass a Farm Bill that does not increase poverty and hardship.
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