The fiscal year 2018 budget resolution would use reconciliation to force billions of dollars of cuts to agriculture programs over the next decade, including recommendations to cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
SNAP, along with other agriculture programs like SNAP-Ed and the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant Program, increases access to healthy food and helps feed low-income individuals, families and children. We all should be particularly concerned about measures that reduce funding for nutrition programs to pay for changes to the tax code that do not benefit most Colorado families.
In Colorado, the SNAP program helps over 460,000 put enough food on the table, and 65 percent of this benefit reaches the state’s most vulnerable residents, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities.
When children have access to nutritious meals, they grow up healthier, succeed more in school and are more likely to escape the cycle of poverty. This strengthens our local economy and is good for our state.
It’s time for all elected officials to protect America’s commitment to ensure no child goes hungry by opposing any budget resolution that targets agriculture programs and basic food assistance.
Kelleen Zubick
Denver
