SNAP/Food Stamps as Economic Stimulus
Update
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January 15, 2009 - Democrat officials note food stamp boost in stimulus plan
Associated Press, "Obama presses lawmakers to OK new bailout funds" 1/14/09
"Several Democratic officials...said...that there was money tentatively set aside to fund a $25-a-week increase in unemployment benefits as well as a 15 percent boost in food stamp benefits."
Click here for more news...
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What's New
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January 14, 2009 - FRAC Releases
School Breakfast Reports
School Breakfast Scorecard - School Year 2007-2008 (pdf)
School Breakfast in America's Big Cities - School Year 2006-2007 (pdf)
Low Rate of Participation in School Breakfast Means
More Hunger, Less Learning, and Weaker State Economies. FRAC Calls for Congressional Steps to Increase Participation in the Program; Encourages States and Schools to Start Classroom Breakfast Programs. Click here for press release.
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January 9, 2009 - Nutrition Priorities for the Transition; Opportunity to Comment; Letter to the Editor
Links to FRAC Submissions
FRAC submitted a series of papers in November to the Obama-Transition Team, outlining the steps needed in the near and longer-term to address the serious problem of hunger in the U.S. Click here to view the papers.
Please Comment
As you will note, the Transition Team Web site provides an opportunity to comment on these recommendations. We hope you will take a moment to add your voice to those urging the new Administration to include SNAP/Food Stamp and other nutrition program investments in an economic stimulus/recovery package, as well as provide resources in the FY 2010 budget for new investments in the Child Nutrition Programs that are due to be reauthorized this year. We believe these are critically important for starting to reach the Obama-Biden campaign goal of ending childhood hunger in the US by 2015. Click here to comment (you may need to scroll down the page to submit your comment).
Please Send a Letter to the Editor
Congress is expected to begin work on economic recovery legislation this month. At stake will be the scope of the package as well as the degree to which the package includes measures that address the problems of low and middle income Americans. To that end, we also hope you will submit a letter to the editor in support of a strong economic recovery package that includes nutrition program investments, especially a substantial food stamp allotment boost, that can help jump start the economy and cushion the blow on struggling families. Click here to view a model letter to the editor that you can submit to your local papers.
For technical assistance on comments and letters to the editor, contact Jen Adach: jadach@frac.org. |
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January 6, 2009 - SNAP/Food Stamp Participation in September 2008 Tops 31.5 Million
One Out of Ten Americans Receiving Benefit; Growth Underscores Need for Congressional Action.
Click here for October SNAP/Food Stamp numbers.
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January 6, 2009 - FRAC's Jim Weill advocates for food stamp boost as part of next economic stimulus package in CQ Today Online News - Economic Affairs
"Some anti-hunger groups, including the Food Research and Action Center, the Congressional Hunger Center and the American Public Human Services Association, also are asking for an additional $250 million a year to upgrade automated systems and hire more caseworkers, which they say would expand participation.
James D. Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, said there has been fairly uniform support for stimulus nutrition funding from Democratic leaders, the incoming administration and even Republican economists. 'It’s the thing that’s most needed and thing that’s most effective,' said Weill, who pressed unsuccessfully to expand the food stamp program in last year’s tax rebate stimulus. 'It’s time to get this help to the people in the country who are having the hardest time and haven’t gotten much help yet in this recession.'”
Contact CQ for complete article.
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December 16, 2008 - Action Alert
Thank Democratic House Members for Signing Letter on Economic Recovery Package Nutrition Investments
Please contact your Democratic Members of the House of Representatives now and thank them for signing on to a letter from Reps. McGovern (MA), Larsen (WA), Jackson Jr. (IL) and Levin (MI) to Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) asking for approximately $26 billion for anti-hunger programs in the Economic Recovery Package. (Capitol Switchboard (202) 225-3121.)
Click here to view the sign on letter as well as the final list of signers.
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December 12, 2008 - FRAC Special Analysis: 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors Report on Hunger and Homelessness Cities included in the survey report that the demand for food assistance rose by an average of 18 percent. Click here to read more.
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December 11, 2008 - Sign on to the Statement of Principles for Child Nutrition Reauthorization
Review the Child Nutrition Forum's Statement of Principles.
Sign on to the Statement of Principles.
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December 10, 2008 - Updated FRAC Facts
The cost of the Thrifty Food Plan rose by 9.4 percent from October 2007 to October 2008, while the overall cost of food rose by 7.5 percent. This increase in the Thrifty Food Plan is a more accurate indicator of how low-income households are suffering from rising food costs. Click here to read more. (pdf)
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December 3, 2008 - Food Stamp Participation in September 2008 Tops 31.5 Million
One Out of Ten Americans Receiving Benefit; Growth Underscores Need for Congressional Action
Click here for the FRAC press release on September's SNAP numbers.
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December 3, 2008 - NEW: 2006 SNAP/Food Stamp Participation Rates State-by-State
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November 25, 2008 - In Nearly Half of the States, More Than One in Ten Residents Are On Food Stamps
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November 24, 2008 - Four Actions to Take in this Holiday Season to End Hunger in America
Congress is on recess until December 8th, but more layoffs and pay cuts are happening every day, and hunger is growing every day. Click here for four ways that you can act over the next few days to initiate meaningful solutions to eliminate hunger in our communities.
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President-Elect Wants Your "Vision for America"
The Office of President-Elect Obama has created a web site, www.change.gov, with a place for all of us to e-mail our "vision for what America can be [and] where President-Elect Obama should lead this country." Please go to www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision and send the President-Elect the message below, or an equivalent message about ending hunger and poverty in the U.S. (and it is important that you also forward this e-mail to your networks so they can do the same and we can get the biggest possible response):
Congratulations on your election. My vision is a hunger-free America. I deeply appreciate your commitment to ending childhood hunger by 2015 and to cutting poverty in half. Please put the nation on a path to do that by: including a food stamp/SNAP boost as soon as possible in an economic stimulus package that addresses this and other critical human needs; investing added money in improving the child nutrition programs when they are reauthorized next year; and further improving food stamps/SNAP, child nutrition programs, the EITC and Child Tax Credit, the minimum wage and other essential supports so that the nation will achieve our mutual goals of eliminating hunger and dramatically reducing poverty.
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November 19, 2008 - FRAC Calls on President-Elect Obama and Congress to Make Ending Hunger a Priority
New Data Find that 36.2 Million Americans Struggle to Obtain Food; Prevalence of Hunger Negatively Impacting Young Children and the Nation’s Well-Being
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November 17, 2008 - More than 36.2 Million Americans Struggled Against Hunger in 2007; Number in Worst-Off Households Rose 40 Percent from 2000 to 2007
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SNAP Participation Tops 29 Million in August 2008 - Vital to Get SNAP/Food Stamp Benefits to One in Three Eligible People Now Missed and to Boost the Purchasing Power of Benefits for All Participants and Local Economies
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November 4, 2008 - LOOKING AHEAD
FRAC congratulates President-elect Barack Obama, Vice-President-elect Joe Biden, and the newly elected and returning members of Congress, state governors, state legislators, mayors and other public officials. We look forward to working with them all to tackle hunger and poverty in our nation, particularly in this time of acute and growing need.
Americans overwhelmingly agree that ending hunger should be a top priority for the nation. Please check back frequently on our website, www.frac.org and look for our alerts and analyses on economic stimulus legislation, on early Administration and Congressional initiatives next year, and on FRAC's priorities to boost the nation's investment in the fight against hunger and poverty.
Below are links to three of the documents that underscore the great opportunities ahead.
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October 29, 2008 - New Online - SNAP/Food Stamp Toolkit for Changing Times: Rebranding, Program Improvements and Economic Hardship
This toolkit can help advocates conduct outreach in 2008 and 2009 to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), the new national name of the Food Stamp Program.
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October 22, 2008 - Updated FRAC Facts on the Impact of Rising Food Costs and the Thrifty Food Plan (pdf) highlights the latest USDA numbers showing the cost of the thrifty food plan rose by 10.3 percent from September 2007 to September 2008.
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October 16, 2008 - Food costs rose by 7.6 percent from September 2007 to September 2008, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Click here for FRAC's updated fact sheet on rising food costs (pdf) and the impact on low-income Americans.
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September 12, 2008 - New Online: Statement of the Food Research and Action Center on the 2009 Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition and WIC Programs (CNR) (pdf), delivered at the final USDA CNR Listening Session, Chicago, Illinois, 9/10/08.
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August 26, 2008 - Number of Americans Living in Poverty Increased in 2007, Federal Poverty Numbers Show
12.5 percent of Americans – 37.3 million people – lived in poverty in 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today. This is an increase in the number of poor people from 2006, when 36.5 million Americans lived in poverty.
Statement by FRAC President Jim Weill (pdf) on the Census Bureau's numbers released today calls for a food stamp boost in the second stimulus package to ease struggle of families living in poverty.
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July 7, 2008 - USDA issues updated income guidelines and reimbursement rates for child nutrition programs (school meals, afterschool and summer food programs, day care nutrition programs). The rates are in effect July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. Follow these links for the Federal Register notices on:
(Documents are in PDF format.)
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