More than 900 anti-hunger advocates register to head to Hill

More than 900 anti-hunger advocates have registered for the Food Research & Action Center’s National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference and will head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to lobby against any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

The conference began as a congressional aide told The Hagstrom Report that the House Agriculture Committee markup on provisions of the budget reconciliation bill has been postponed from this week to the week of May 12. 

At an opening plenary session at the Shoreham Hotel on Sunday, LaMonika Jones, director of state initiatives at the Food Research & Action Center moderated a panel of Mike Lavender, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition; Heidi Goldberg, director of economic opportunity and financial empowerment at the National League of Cities; and Megan Prior, a pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital, who discussed challenges related to nutrition programs and agriculture.  

Today Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat of retiring Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., will address the group. 

On Tuesday there will be an anti-hunger rally in Upper Senate Park featuring congressional speakers before advocates meet with senators and members of the House. 

Lavender, Goldberg and Prior all said they are concerned about the House Budget Committee’s directive to the House Agriculture Committee to cut $230 billion from programs under its jurisdiction as part of budget reconciliation.

Most of that funding is expected to come from the SNAP program, although Lavender said he doubts the final figure will be that high because the attendees at the conference will have an impact. (The Senate  Agriculture Committee has been directed to cut only $1 billion from programs under its jurisdiction, but the House and Senate will have to reach agreement on the final cut.) 

Goldberg said SNAP spending not only helps low-income people but creates jobs in cities across the country. Cities cannot meet the gap from cuts to SNAP, Goldberg said. She also said that if grocery stores experience a loss of revenue, that reduces city taxes. In rural areas, small retail establishments may not be able to stay in business, she said. 

Prior said she is worried about what a potential loss of SNAP and Medicaid benefits will mean for her patients, saying SNAP and Medicaid are interlinked. 

Lavender noted that “for farmers so much of their livelihood is based on limiting variables and making sure they have access to markets.” Cuts to USDA nutrition grants have already reduced markets for some farmers, Lavender added.

Lavender noted that farmers have also been hurt by the Trump administration’s decision not to fulfill contracts with farmers. “The main theme over the past 101 days has been destabilization,” Lavender said, adding there is “deep anger” among farmers whose contracts have not been filled. 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said the Trump administration is determined to put “farmers first,” but Lavender said he doesn’t know exactly what that means. 

Every administration has different policies but the Trump administration’s “willingness to push back on contract law” is different from the actions of previous administrations, Lavender said. 

He also told the advocates that if they hear that provisions to raise the reference prices that trigger farm subsidies and lower crop insurance costs help farmers they should be aware those initiatives will not help all farmers. 

Prior noted that many child and adult care providers and pre-school teachers who are poorly paid rely on public benefits to feed themselves. “They can’t work hungry,” she said. 

Goldberg said proposals to impose stiffer work requirements would take away benefits from older Americans including veterans. 

Prior said she hopes that legislators understand that the supports for low-income Americans “are there for a reason.”

Lavender stressed the connections between agriculture and nutrition programs. It’s  good for anti-hunger advocates to “use this moment when you’re all together rekindling connections” to also forge bonds with farmers because “we have a shared stake in the game,” he said.

Jones said the advocates are going to create “some good trouble this week.”

Goldberg said she believes Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

But she added, “It does not do that on its own. It takes a lot of work and finding allies.”