As House and Senate negotiators were reportedly nearing a deal on the farm bill, some 400 Quakers and friends lobbied hard to ensure that the final bill includes strong protections for SNAP (food stamps). They were in Washington, DC, for FCNL’s Annual Meeting and Quaker Public Policy Institute, Nov. 29 to Dec. 2, 2018.
The FCNL participants visited nearly 200 Congressional offices to ask staff and members of Congress, to pass a farm bill that includes the Senate’s provisions for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The farm bill is the largest source of food assistance for millions of struggling American families.
According to Bread for the World researchers, the federal government provides 20 times the nutrition assistance than what all the private charities and congregations in the U.S. can give. The largest source of federal nutrition assistance – primarily the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) — comes through the farm bill.
Read the rest of this article, and the full Washington Newsletter for November 2018, below.
