Statement attributed to Julie Bancroft, CEO
HARRISBURG, PA (May 20, 2024) – Recent developments on the Farm Bill are a critical first step in addressing the nation’s food insecurity. However, while the legislative bill text released by House Agriculture Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson suggests some improvements, proposals to critical federal nutrition programs fall short of the needs and realities of American families facing hunger, including the 1.5 million Pennsylvanians who experience food insecurity.
Newly released Map the Meal Gap data from Feeding America show alarming increases in individuals experiencing food insecurity—the highest number of individuals facing hunger in 20 years. Pennsylvania now has an additional 300,000 food-insecure individuals. Nearly 17 percent of Pennsylvania’s children now face hunger. Pennsylvania’s food banks across the Commonwealth see these statistics translate to increased demand and longer lines for food access.
Congressman Thompson’s bill does make important changes that address hunger and food insecurity, such as removing the arcane Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) drug felony ban, increasing Farm to Food Bank funding, and ensuring that healthy, nutritious foods are readily available across all federal nutrition programs. Still, Feeding PA is disheartened by several provisions that will impact food banks and the food-insecure neighbors they serve, now and into the future. Specifically, requiring future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan to be cost-neutral, while intended to provide more oversight, will prevent SNAP benefits from keeping pace with how people purchase, prepare, and consume food. We should be looking forward, not backward, and continue modernizing SNAP and the Thrifty Meal Plan, an important tool in addressing today’s record levels of food insecurity.
Further, limiting the Secretary of Agriculture’s authority over the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) without material increases to funding levels for other commodity programs, like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), will be harmful to food banks and food pantries that rely on TEFAP and USDA foods to keep their shelves stocked and families fed. Lack of increased funding means food banks are doing more with less, forcing them to divert funds from other support services, like job training, that help get neighbors back on their feet. Feeding Pennsylvania and its member food banks look forward to continuing to work with the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on a strong, bipartisan Farm Bill that strengthens nutrition and agriculture programs. We have an opportunity in the Farm Bill to address the reality of hunger and food insecurity facing children, seniors, and families in Pennsylvania and across the Nation so all have the healthy, nutritious food they need to thrive.