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Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the Opportunity to Address College Hunger Act, which I introduced today.

According to a 2018 GAO study, roughly 2 million at-risk college students who were potentially eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, benefits did not report receiving them. Millions of eligible college students across the Nation face steep barriers to accessing these critical benefits due to a complex application process and a lack of information-sharing from their own colleges and universities.

In California alone, 127,000 college students received CalFresh before the pandemic, despite upwards of 690,000 students being potentially eligible. Through my conversations with California college students, many have said that they wished their campuses told them they were eligible for SNAP and how to access benefits.

That is why I am introducing this bill--to increase awareness of SNAP for potentially eligible college students and to continue the fight to tackle student hunger.

If enacted, this bill would require colleges and universities to notify students participating in State or federally financed work-study programs of their potential eligibility for SNAP benefits. Institutions would also need to provide students with details about how they can obtain more information about SNAP, confirm their eligibility for the program, and access benefits.

This notification would be developed by the U.S. Department of Education, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and would be specific to the student's State of residence and provide contact information for the local office where the student can apply for SNAP.

The notification would also include an official document confirming that the student participates in a work-study program and meets one of the SNAP eligibility requirements for college students. This documentation would help students overcome a common paperwork hurdle they face when applying for SNAP benefits.

Finally, this bill would require the Department of Education and USDA to provide guidance to States and institutions on how to better engage with potentially eligible students.

While I support eliminating the restrictive work requirements that limit access to critical nutrition benefits for millions of low-income college students, this bill works to tackle barriers students face with the eligibility requirements currently in place.

I want to thank Representative Suzanne Bonamici for introducing this bill in the House and for her continued work to combat student hunger. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation to help improve student food security, health, and learning. ______

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