Rising Food Prices, Falling Program Funds: A Recipe for Hunger
Posted by Michael McKenna on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Coming soon to a store near you - higher food prices for your favorite food products! Commodity prices have been both very high and very volatile since the 2008 food price crisis. Strange weather this year in America’s top growing regions has meant that supply (even with a record harvest) won’t be enough to meet demand (domestic consumption, biofuels, export), leading to higher food prices for meat, grains, and other products, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That’s bad news for all of us, because our grocery bills will be costlier. But for low-income Americans who happen to participate in a program like WIC or SNAP, it’s doubly bad news.
Vouchers and electronic benefits won’t buy as much food each month as prices rise. But what’s worse is that the House Agriculture Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2012 contains policy changes that will make it harder for those programs to respond to need. At the end of May, the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill that if enacted, would:
- Lead to 200,000 to 350,000 women, infants, and children losing access to WIC
- Cut $2 billion from the President’s request for the SNAP benefits reserve fund, which is designed to handle an increased caseload (a distinct possibility given the slow recovery)
- Question the science-based nutrition recommendations of the Institute of Medicine for improving school meals; and
- Lead to sparser shelves in food pantries, particularly in rural areas, as food banks lose funding under the The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which helps buy commodities and cover transport costs for food delivery.
Yes, bad news all around. To recap the ingredients for this unfortunate recipe for hunger:
- Food products cost more
- Unemployment at 9%
- Safety net nutrition assistance programs have less funding to meet need
These programs represent cost-effective uses of federal resources. For example, every $1 spent on WIC leads to a savings of $1.77 to $3.13 in health care costs, as fewer babies are born at low birthrate and more and more children receive immunizations (according to USDA and Office of Management and Budget analysis). So by cutting WIC, the House could ultimately be contributing to greater health care costs, which coupled with more expensive food, will hit the wallets and quite literally, the bodies, of poor children hardest.
There is still time to protect these programs! The House votes on this Agriculture Appropriations bill this week and the Senate will consider funding for these programs later this summer. Call the Capitol Switchboard today (202)224-3121 and ask for your Representative’s office.
- As a constituent, I am concerned about the cuts to nutrition programs in the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. Vulnerable Americans, especially children, depend on these programs during tough times.
- Please vote against these cuts and look for alternative sources of savings for reducing spending.
Thank you for doing your part protect these programs.
June 14, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: congress, hunger, no kid hungry
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