Lawmaker leads delegation in letter to Agriculture Committee citing need, effectiveness of program serving 1 million Bay State residents
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Malden), dean of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, today was joined by his Bay State colleagues Reps. Barney Frank, Richard E. Neal, John Olver, John Tierney, Michael Capuano, Stephen F. Lynch, Niki Tsongas, and William Keating in a letter to the leadership of the House Agriculture Committee urging them to maintain current funding levels for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as it considers the 2012 reauthorization of the Farm Bill. SNAP is the nation’s cornerstone food assistance program, supporting approximately 46 million Americans, including one million Massachusetts residents.
 
In the letter the Massachusetts delegation calls on the Committee to protect the current level of funding for SNAP and to maintain its current structure, eligibility requirements, and benefit levels. The lawmakers also express their opposition to both the House Agriculture Committee’s reconciliation proposal to cut $33 billion from the program, and the House budget proposal that would cut SNAP by $133 billion over the next decade and convert SNAP into a block grant program. Converting SNAP into a block grant would eliminate SNAP benefits for two million Americans.
 
“We recognize and understand the difficult budgetary decisions before you and the importance of achieving savings through common sense reforms,” write the lawmakers in the letter to Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.). “However, Congress has had a long-standing bipartisan commitment to protecting low-income safety net programs, and we urge you to uphold that essential commitment.
 
A copy of the letter to the Agriculture Committee can be found HERE.
 
Both the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill would cut $4.49 billion from SNAP over ten years by limiting the so-called “Heat and Eat” provision, which allows states to coordinate SNAP and the Low-Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Heat and Eat plays a crucial role in Massachusetts, helping low-income families balance the need to both heat their homes and feed their families, while cutting down on administrative burden on the state. This proposed cut would reduce benefits for more than 4.7 million Americans, including more than 100,000 Massachusetts residents. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) have cosponsored an amendment by Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) to restore the Heat and Eat funding to the Senate version of the Farm Bill. That amendment will be voted on in the Senate this week.
 
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