Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives passed a new Farm Bill on Thursday that failed to reverse looming and steep cuts to nutrition funding – a missed opportunity that Hispanic Federation warns will devastate vulnerable communities across the country, including in Puerto Rico. The legislation that moved forward failed to restore nearly $200 billion in SNAP funding that advocates had called on Congress to reinstate. Hispanic Federation also issued a response to the reconciliation process, which can be seen here. Below is a statement from Jessica Orozco Guttlein, Senior Vice President of Policy and Communications at Hispanic Federation.
“For generations, the Farm Bill was built on the recognition that American farmers and the families they feed both benefit from robust nutritional safety nets. Last year, H.R.1 upended this norm when it cut nearly $200 billion in nutrition aid, forcing millions of families to skip meals and creating significant hardship for farmers who can no longer sell their goods. The Farm Bill was an opportunity to right a wrong, return food to kitchen tables while revitalizing domestic agricultural economies. Congress skipped this opportunity and accepted shortfalls in nutrition funding for Puerto Rico. SNAP works, and it is a travesty that the House of Representatives would pass legislation allowing families to go hungry despite clear alternatives that were proposed and rejected. Millions of Latino families and farmworkers are being devastated by these decisions, and this legislation will perpetuate harm on all American families.
Across decades, bipartisan negotiations have yielded legislation that has preserved and expanded critical social programs, reflecting the common-sense position that stability and nutrition for our most vulnerable communities are necessary for the prosperity of us all. Now, Congressional majorities are abandoning that tradition, allowing families to go hungry while pursuing funding packages that fail to protect the interests of everyday, working Americans. We urge Congress to return to bipartisan, normal order negotiations on reauthorizations so they can deliver the nutrition support that American families and farmers deserve.”
