Child hunger advocates: 'SNAP funding is a bipartisan issue'

Congress is crafting its five-year omnibus farm bill, and advocates from the Save the Children Action Network are urging lawmakers to think twice before cutting benefits to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  

Armed with a new survey that showed bipartisan support for increasing SNAP benefits for those facing food insecurity, the group, established in 2014 as the advocacy arm of the Fairfield, Connecticut-based Save the Children USA, argued Tuesday that the program is not only a moral issue but one that’s important to voters. 

Save the Children Action Network’s (SCAN) survey, conducted by a bipartisan group of pollsters, found that upon learning that SNAP recipients receive an average $5.70 a day per family member, 80% of Democrats said the amount should be increased, followed by 63% of independents and 53% of Republicans.  

The group warned there could be repercussions at the polls for cutting the benefits, too. More than two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents said voting to cut SNAP would give them a less-favorable opinion of their elected representative. 

Respondents also widely agreed that the government should be doing more to help families struggling with food insecurity, with 85% saying the SNAP program is an important part of alleviating hunger. Nearly three out of every four (74%) Republicans believes SNAP is important, and 71% who consider themselves “very conservative” agreed. 

Proposals to strengthen and improve the SNAP program also got a positive response from survey respondents, with 94% supporting the Double Up Food Bucks program, which doubles the benefits for purchases of fruits and vegetables.  

“For millions of Americans, the pandemic shed a bright light on child hunger and the kind of policies capable of addressing deep-rooted inadequacies of our country’s food assistance programs,” SCAN Executive Director Christy Gleason said in a statement. “The farm bill carries huge implications for anti-hunger and anti-poverty measures because SNAP is the nation’s most critical and effective anti-hunger program. It lifts millions of people out of poverty, boosts local economies and effectively reaches people in greatest need.” 

SCAN released the survey on the last day of its three-day Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., where members are lobbying elected officials in the interests of children and food insecurity.  

The most recent farm bill, approved by Congress in 2018 and set to expire this year, authorizes funds for programs overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, such as SNAP. A report from the Congressional Research Service, which provides policy and legal analysis for members of Congress, published on June 16, showed that SNAP makes up the majority of spending in the farm bill.  

The Nutrition title in the bill, which is primarily the SNAP program, makes up 84% of the farm bill baseline for the next decade—approximately $1.2 trillion—up from 76% in the 2018 farm bill and 67% in 2008. The report noted: “Sharp increases in the nutrition title reflect pandemic assistance and administrative adjustments made to SNAP benefit calculations.”