INDIANAPOLIS — Hunger-fighting groups say they're disappointed the head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture used an Indiana visit to tout cuts to food assistance programs.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue made several stops in Indianapolis on Monday, including a WorkOne Indy Training Site. That's where he discussed a new rule tightening work restrictions for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that he said would move participants toward self-sufficiency and into employment.

Emily Weikert Bryant, executive director with Feeding Indiana's Hungry, said she disagrees.

"Able-bodied adults without dependents can still struggle to find steady employment even in a strong labor market,” Bryant said. “The USDA's own estimate is that there would be 700,000 unemployed individuals who would lose food assistance under this policy. And they don't have anything that shows that this would help them gain employment."

The finalized USDA rule revokes the ability for states to issue waivers on the three-month limit for SNAP benefits to people who aren't either working or in a training program for 20 hours a week. Indiana is not affected because it does not have a work-requirement waiver.

The USDA is proposing two other changes to the SNAP program that would affect automatic enrollment when a person qualifies for another form of federal assistance, and how states use household utility costs to determine SNAP benefit amounts. Bryant contends the changes will create needless layers of red tape that will do a those in greatest need.

"With all of these proposals, Congress considered them and rejected them when they passed the farm bill about this time last year,” she said. “And so it's disappointing that the administration is really taking a second bite at the apple, getting the policies that they wanted out of a farm bill that Congress rejected."

A study from the Urban Institute estimated the three rules together would result in 3.7 million people across the country losing their SNAP benefits. According to the latest data, roughly 520,000 Hoosiers rely on SNAP to put food on the table.


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Hundreds of people from across Oregon gathered in Salem for an advocacy day last week, urging lawmakers to pass what's known as the Food for All Oregonians bill.

Supported by a coalition of more than 180 organizations, it would ensure older adults and children could get food assistance regardless of their immigration status.

Research shows hunger rates are rising across the state, leaving one in six children facing food insecurity.

Oregon Food Bank's Associate Director Cristina Marquez said access to food benefits supported her family growing up, and made it easier for her to go to college.

"We know that programs like SNAP are the most effective anti-hunger tools we have," said Marquez, "being able to lift folks out of poverty each year and keeping families stable."

Food for All Oregonians would create a new, state-run program similar to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Youth and older adults who would otherwise qualify for SNAP except for their immigration status, would be eligible. Opponents of the bill are concerned about its cost.

It is scheduled for a public hearing tomorrow in Salem.

Oregon Food Bank points to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing every $1 spent on food assistance generates about $1.50 for local economies.

Marquez added that immigrants of all statuses contribute to the state's functioning, especially in agriculture.

"Many of the folks that would be affected by the passage of Food For All Oregonians are folks that are currently farm workers," said Marquez, "essential workers, critical to many of the industries here in Oregon."

Marquez noted that California and Washington have already enacted similar policies extending food benefits to people regardless of immigration status.

Food for All Oregonians is part of an immigrant justice package of bills, which would ensure legal representation for immigrants and create a farm worker disaster relief fund.

While affordable housing advocates across the state have been cheering on Washington's rent stabilization bill in Olympia, so have organizations fighting hunger in the state.

Claire Lane, director of the Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition, stands behind the bill, which would limit yearly rent increases to 7%. Lane said her coalition partners with housing advocates because if someone is housing insecure, they are also likely to be food insecure.

"Really, the most important thing to take away from that is, we're not going to be able to solve hunger in Washington until we can ensure that people have more stable, more affordable housing," she explained.

Washington's rent stabilization bill has passed the House and is now in the Senate. Votes for the bill have largely been along party lines, with Republicans arguing it will result in less housing and higher rents.

Along with capping increases, the rent stabilization bill would require landlords to give tenants six months' notice for significant rent increases. Lane explained that having more time is key to supporting people having enough food, and added if a family only has two months to move because of a rent hike, they will prioritize paying for housing over food.

"And that's where you start cutting back on your groceries. That's where you start skipping dinner or you start skipping breakfast," she continued.

Lane pointed to new data from the University of Washington focused on lower income households, showing more than half of participants experience food insecurity, and said the data show food insecurity in the state is widespread, especially in communities of color.

"Seventy percent of Hispanic respondents, compared to 54% of non-Hispanic respondents, experience food insecurity. Those are huge numbers no matter how you look at it, but the disparity is obvious," she contended.

Democrats are confident the rent stabilization bill will pass this year, with some tweaks in the wording.


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Children's advocates are crying foul after House Republicans called for $12 billion in cuts to school meal programs, including the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-poverty school districts to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their ability to pay.

Erin Hysom, senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center, said the funds are an important public investment and no child can learn on an empty stomach.

"We hear from teachers all the time that when schools offer healthy school meals for all, behavior in the classroom improves," Hysom reported. "Their academics improve and they're able to graduate and become more productive members of society."

Some 557 Colorado schools serving more than 206,000 students are projected to be affected. The proposed cuts are part of a sweeping effort by Republicans to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the federal budget in order to pay for extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and other policy priorities, including mass deportations.

Hysom noted the Community Eligibility Provision has already reduced inefficiency and red tape, and cuts would send school nutrition directors away from kitchens and back to their desks to deal with unnecessary paperwork. She added the move would also affect farm-to-school initiatives putting money directly into the pockets of local farms and ranches.

"They're able to meet with local agricultural producers and bring in local products that not only improve the nutrition of the meal but also support the local economy," Hysom explained.

Cuts to federal nutrition funding would certainly not help Colorado's Healthy School Meals for All initiative, passed by voters in 2022. The popular program is competing with other priorities as the state grapples with a $1.2 billion budget shortfall.

Hysom worries the cuts could also mean the return of lunch line shaming.

"It really creates this stigma in the cafeteria," Hysom contended. "When we offer school meals to all children at no charge, it reduces that stigma."


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