Congress is considering drastic changes to federal programs as part of partisan legislation making sweeping cuts to federal spending for the next decade, with the potential to cripple school meals, nutrition programs like SNAP, education funding, local ag programs, and more.
- The proposed House version would eliminate SNAP-Ed, a federally funded grant program that provides nutrition education and physical activity strategies to individuals and communities eligible for SNAP benefits, with projects in every state and territory.
- It also includes fundamental changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that would cut the program by 30 percent and endanger nutrition for children in 2 million households.
- The House considered, but did not include, changes to the Community Eligibility Provision, which has been in place since 2010 to successfully help low-income school meal programs focus on feeding kids, not on red tape. The proposed changes would also have put more burdensome paperwork on parents and families, educators, and school nutrition professionals.
- Because SNAP and Medicaid participation are integral to how Community Eligibility is calculated for districts, major changes that kick families off the programs will have an impact on CEP participation – and access to meals for the whole school.
- The proposed House version removes $290 billion from the future budget for Farm Bill programs, and rolls the "savings" from nutrition cuts into increased farm subsidies as a supposed solution for farmers and rural America.
Your policymakers in Washington cannot be allowed to ignore the harm these cuts will do to families and communities. Tell your Senators to reject misguided cuts that would endanger kids and producers.