Salt of the Earth: Do food stamps need to be beefed up?

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August 2001

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Do food stamps need to be beefed up?
Increasing food stamp benefits and helping more people obtain them should be a priority as Congress crafts a new farm bill, Catholic Charities USA Vice President for Social Policy Sharon Daly told Senate committee members in June.

"Despite our prolonged economic growth and the successes of the food stamp program, there are still 31 million Americans, approximately 12 million of whom are children, that the USDA and the Census Bureau tell us either are hungry, cannot afford balanced diets, or are skipping meals so their children can eat," Daly said in her June 28 testimony before the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.

Daly called for an increase in food stamp funds to serve families whose incomes barely cover housing and who must rely on food assistance for extended periods. Currently the program provides for a minimal diet, adequate only for a short time.

Andrew Rivas, Catholic Charities' legislative liaison on hunger, homelessness, and immigration issues, says the organization has not requested a specific dollar increase for the program but may do so as the legislation develops. The initial farm bill proposal, written as a discussion draft by the House Committee on Agriculture, allocates an extra $2 billion over 10 years for food and nutrition. Rivas calls the proposal "insufficient" for low-income families.

Daly also asked the committee to consider automatically enrolling families in the program for one year as they transition off welfare, allowing workers to apply for food stamps by mail so they don't miss work to apply in person, and restoring food stamp benefits to legal immigrants. The 1996 immigration and welfare reforms excluded immigrants from the program.

Under the federal food stamp program, individuals or families with incomes of no more than 130 percent of the federal poverty level (currently $14,160 a year for a family of three) can obtain coupons to use like cash at grocery stores. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average monthly benefit in 2000 was $73 per person and $173 per household.

Members of Congress who argue the 1996 welfare reforms are helping low-income families, making additional benefits unnecessary, will offer the prime opposition to Catholic Charities requests, Rivas predicts. "Catholic Charities thinks the bill was not a great bill," he says, "and we're looking for ways to fix what happened. We're trying to educate Congressional offices of its effects on the marginalized."

Rivas urges people to write the White House in support of Catholic Charities' suggestions for the food stamp program and to insist lawmakers consider farm worker issues in the creation of a new farm bill. President Bush has not yet announced a position on these aspects of the farm bill.

House Agriculture Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) has announced he hopes to release the House version of the bill before the August recess. Rivas says the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairman, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), is making a concerted effort to finish with it before then as well.—Anne Graber

For more information:
Catholic Charities USA
Sharon Daly's testimony
Food and Nutrition Services food stamps FAQ

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