An Attack on the Poor

It is almost unimaginable that people in this nation could go hungry. But cuts in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will force more families to turn to food banks.

Nationwide, one out of four Latino households is already food insecure. This means that some families are not sure if they will be able to eat three meals a day or any at all.

With the most recent cuts to SNAP, a family of four lost $36 per month towards the purchase of food, while families of three lost $29. This may not seem like much, but for a family struggling to climb out of poverty, this is a harsh blow.

The cuts to SNAP that went into effect on Nov. 1 are devastating. But outrageously, there are more planned. Estimates show that a bill passed by the House of Representatives would take a $40 billion axe to the program, while the Senate’s will cut $4 billion.

Reducing access to food is illogical. Moreover, these cuts are unnecessary.

The White House released a summary of tax breakdowns per family that shows that a married person with one child who earns $50,000 a year will pay $36.82 in taxes toward SNAP. This amounts to a mere 10 cents per day—hardly a budget breaker.

Hunger shouldn’t be a political game and it is not acceptable to make it one.

We need representatives in Congress who are as serious and concerned about poor families losing one or two meals a day as they are about threats to national security.

When they sit in front of a mountain of food on Thanksgiving, lawmakers should think about families who will have little to be thankful for. We wish that shame would be enough to get them to act differently. Instead, public pressure has to build and demand better than legislators who leave children hungry.