Home > Take Action > Action Alert - 12/02/05

We are reporting to you on two important votes (on two entirely separate bills) that occurred in the House of Representatives yesterday. Both have important implications for nutrition funding. Your advocacy is having an impact and will be critical in coming weeks.

The next few weeks will be critical to the outcome of funding for the Food Stamp Program. This alert lets you know:

1. what you can do to contact Members of Congress while they are home for an extended holiday recess;

2. what activities are planned for the week of December 12th when both the Senate and House are back in session (the House returns12/5; the Senate on 12/12); and

3. ways to build opposition to the cuts among media and other opinion leaders.

Outlook
Now that the House and Senate have approved their respective FY 2006 Budget Reconciliation Bills, action has moved to a Senate-House Conference Committee. Anti-hunger allies are working to knock out the food stamp cuts entirely (urging adoption of the Senate bill’s “zero” cuts to food stamps rather than any portion of the $700 million in five-year cuts in the House bill). Keeping any overall conference agreement closer to the lower Senate cuts level for all programs of $35 billion, rather than the House level of $50 billion, is likely to improve prospects for protecting the Food Stamp Program. FRAC also is joining forces with coalition partners to stop the entire budget reconciliation process. Given how far apart the House and Senate are on many issues—not just food stamps—getting an agreement may be very difficult and blocking the whole package “doable.”

Timing and Players
Behind-the-scenes maneuvering over the Conference Report on the Budget Reconciliation Bill has started in advance of formal Member-level negotiations expected to occur in mid-December. Senior Members of the House and Senate Budget and Agriculture Committees likely will have the most direct voices on the nutrition cuts issues in the conference negotiations. The positions of all Members of Congress—especially all moderate Republicans-- will be influential as leaders assess how many votes for or against a final conference package would be gained or lost by including food stamp cuts.

A “best guess” on timing for floor votes on any conference agreement is during the week of December 12th. Given this possible timing, FRAC urges you to plan now for visible local actions against the cuts across the country on December 13 th and 14 th. Even if the negotiations take longer, ongoing opposition in December is expected to be important to the outcome.

What’s At Risk on Nutrition
The House budget bill would harm many food stamp households (1) by limiting states’ options to apply food stamp “Categorical Eligibility” (“Cat El”) to working families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program services even if they do not receive cash payments, and, (2) by lengthening to seven years the current five-year waiting period for many adult legal immigrants. “Tweaks” to the cuts made since the House Agriculture Committee reported its package in late October did little to repair the damage to the nutrition safety net: the bill still cuts more than 220,000 people from food stamp benefits, including virtually as many legal immigrants as before the tweaks. And some children in families with TANF services are expected to pay more for school lunch and breakfast because they will not be directly certified for free school meals when their families lose their food stamps.

The House reconciliation includes a generally bad TANF reauthorization. But the TANF provisions do not include, as some had feared, the five-state food stamp block grant and superwaiver provisions that had been earlier proposed and that advocates had strongly opposed.

Messages and Action Needed on Budget Conference Report:

Protect Food Stamp Program Messages

1. The Food Stamp Program is vital to respond to the nutritional needs of low-income Americans, including working families facing stagnant wages and growing costs, Katrina victims, and people facing skyrocketing energy prices this coming winter.

2. Food insecurity already is affecting a growing number of people in the US. More than ever, this is a bad time for Congress to make funding cuts or weakening structural changes to the Food Stamp Program.

3. Congress should stop the Budget Reconciliation bill; instead, Congress should improve the ability of the Food Stamp Program to meet urgent new needs by supporting post-Katrina nutrition provisions like those in S. 1695 and H.R. 3809. For background information, including details on the most recent food insecurity data for your state, check FRAC’s website.

Call, E-mail, and Visit Members During Recess (to December 5th for House; to December 12th for Senate)
Urge Members of Congress (both Senators and Representatives) to oppose any food stamp cuts in the budget reconciliation conference report.  Support the Senate position of “zero” cuts in food stamps. Call Members’ district offices to seek appointments while they are home, invite them to program sites, and/or attend any town hall meetings or other public events Members hold and urge them to reject food stamp cuts.

ECAP Activities: Check www.actnow.org for news on the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities (ECAP) local actions against the cuts. FRAC is an ECAP partner. Many ECAP partners are planning now for local activities on December 13 th and 14 th. Let us know if you would like to join an action in your area.

Generate Holiday Themed Media: Let your local media and others know that cutting food stamps is a terrible holiday season step.   Invite reporters and opinion leaders to emergency feeding sites and discuss the impact cuts would have on needy people. Urge editorial writers to address a disconnect between the community’s holiday season concern for the poor and the House’s proposed food stamp cuts. React to any local stories that appear on emergency feeding by writing a letter to the editor about how that story underscores how terrible it is that Congress would even think about cutting food stamp benefits when so many families are already worried about where they will get their next meal. To share your clips with FRAC, send clips to evollinger@frac.org.

Partner with State and Local Officials: The House food stamp provisions shift costs to states and entail burdensome administrative changes. The more than 220,000 people cut from federal food stamps will remain in need. Also if the cuts are enacted, states would face increased administrative burdens as they are forced to reprogram computers, retrain caseworkers, and reeducate clients. Ask your state and local officials to speak out against the cuts and to call their Members of Congress to urge their opposition. For opposition to the cost shifts, see letters from National League of Cities and American Public Human Services Association (APHSA).

Focus on the Heat or Eat Dilemma
Skyrocketing heating fuel costs exacerbate the classic heat-or-eat quandary low-income clients face in the winter. While the federal nutrition programs alone can’t solve this problem for low-income families, the nutrition programs do help—remind Members of Congress and opinion leaders that cutting food stamps will only exacerbate the problems families face in heating and eating. For more information, see FRAC report, "Heat and Eat: Using Federal Nutrition Programs to Cushion the Shock of Skyrocketing Heating Bills".

Feedback and Technical Assistance
For feedback on your contacts and activities, suggestions for additional actions, or technical assistance from FRAC, contact evollinger@frac.org; eteller@frac.org; or ichavez@frac.org.

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