Increase SNAP Benefits to Promote Access to Healthy Food

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring attention to a recent study published by Kranti Mulik and Lindsey Haynes-Maslow in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. Their research confirms what we already know about SNAP and what the Agriculture Committee has discovered during our thorough review of the program; and that is, that current benefits averaging only a $1.40 per person per meal are not enough to cover the cost of a healthy diet.

Drs. Mulik and Haynes-Maslow set out to explore how much it costs families to follow the MyPlate dietary guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and then estimated the additional resources families on SNAP would need to follow these recommendations for a healthy diet.

They discovered that a family of four with two adults and two children between the ages of 8 and 17 needed between $1,109 and $1,249 a month to follow USDA's recommendations for a healthy diet, including the time to prepare nutritious meals. The research found this type of family, a family of four with two older kids, would need an additional $627 per month to eat a nutritious diet.

Overall, the research determined that current SNAP benefits only cover about 43 to 60 percent of the food budget needed to follow MyPlate recommendations. These findings underscore the need for Congress to protect SNAP and further expand access to nutritious food by increasing benefits. This is especially important as we continue to learn more about the negative health impacts exacerbated by hunger and a lack of access to nutritious food.

Unfortunately, some in this House have turned efforts to help our constituents put food on their table when times are tough into an ideological crusade and, quite frankly, it is unconscionable. Food ought to be a fundamental right for every single person.

Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee and in the Republican leadership of this House advanced a farm bill last month that would have done irreparable harm to our anti-hunger safety net. It relied on negative stereotypes and incorrect assumptions about the hardworking American families who rely on modest SNAP benefits. It would have slashed SNAP by $23 billion, which would cause millions of Americans to see their benefits reduced or eliminated entirely.

And not only did this terrible bill single out those vulnerable adults who are having a difficult time finding stable employment, it also targeted working families, older adults, and children.

In the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world, no person should go to bed hungry or wondering where his or her next meal is coming from. This Congress ought to be focused on helping our constituents with a hand up when times are tough, instead of demonizing the poor and ignoring their struggles.

Now, I am encouraged that the Senate Agriculture Committee is marking up a bipartisan farm bill today that protects SNAP from harmful cuts and makes investments in the program to help increase access to healthy foods. My Republican friends in the House should follow their example.

As we continue through this year's farm bill process, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject cuts to SNAP benefits and oppose efforts to reduce access to this critical food assistance program.

As research has long confirmed, SNAP helps to reduce food insecurity, promote access to nutritious foods, and improve health. We know that SNAP benefits must be increased to cover the costs associated with a nutritious diet. I encourage my colleagues to consider this important new information and to join me in working to end hunger now.

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