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Statement

House GOP ‘Chooses Cruelty Over Compassion’ With Passage of Farm Bill That Threatens to Exacerbate Hunger in America, Moms Leader Says

June 21, 2018
Youth & Family Justice, Federal Budget

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, CEO and executive director of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on House passage of a punitive, harmful Farm Bill:

“The Farm Bill the U.S. House passed today would make it harder for hungry families to access the food they need, exacerbating hunger in America. It is a devastating plan that would leave a million families without nutrition assistance. It includes unnecessary, harmful and overly restrictive work requirements to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps families afford food during hard times.  

“We were successful defeating this bill once before and, fortunately, it will be dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate, which has a bi-partisan bill that protects and lifts up struggling families rather than cruelly forcing them into poverty. Unnecessarily onerous work requirements will not help anyone keep a job or find a job. The entire premise of the new restrictions in the U.S. House bill — that somehow people who use SNAP are lazy — is dead wrong.  Eighty percent of SNAP households have at least one working-age, non-disabled adult who holds a job while receiving SNAP. Many of those who don’t work are in school, ill, trying to escape an abusive relationship, or have caregiving needs or responsibilities that prevent them from staying in the workforce. We recognize this plan as the direct attack on family caregivers, most of whom are women, that it is.

“More than 75,000 MomsRising members signed a petition urging the U.S. House to reject this bill. Our members made calls and sent letters with the message: ‘Hands off SNAP!’ Thousands shared personal stories emphasizing their need for food and nutrition assistance.

“We now turn our efforts to the U.S. Senate and will work to build support for its bi-partisan bill, which protects SNAP. We will work hard to support the U.S. Senate farm bill and leave the U.S. House version in the dust.

“Over these last few weeks, in particular, our political leaders have let the nation down, choosing cruelty over compassion in ways that cause deep damage to our country. Congress must support all parents and children by prioritizing policies that lift-up families, rather than misguided laws and policies that tear them down. The Farm Bill the U.S. House passed tonight would cause real harm to moms, families, children, our economy and our country.” 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.