Food Stamps: A 7 Percent Solution?
Iowa Fiscal Partnership
Budget
negotiations in Washington in the coming weeks may set some outlines
for the kind of cuts that may be expected from the Agriculture
committees in the House and Senate. Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom
Harkin of Iowa both serve on the Ag Committee in the Senate.
Cuts in Food Stamps are increasingly likely
– and some are calling for enormous cuts that would devastate this
safety net for nutrition for low-income working families. It may help
to review Bush’s own perception of the burden Food Stamps should bear
from Agriculture cuts: 7 percent.
Bush had
proposed that $600 million in Food Stamp cuts be part of $9 billion in
Agriculture cuts. This cut would eliminate eligibility for 300,000
people, primarily working families with children. However, if
Congress follows [Bush's] principle that only 7 percent should come
from Food Stamps, then for $3 billion in Ag cuts, Food Stamps would be
cut $200 million.
“[Bush]
has given us what we could call his ‘7 percent solution’ to the
Agriculture portion of the budget puzzle,” Iowa Policy Project
executive director David Osterberg said. “It’s fair to understand
this as his standard for the appropriate burden to place on Food Stamp
recipients as a share of the Ag cuts.
“That
amounts to $200 million. Any amount cut from Food Stamps or any
low-income service is hard to defend when taxes are being cut for the
wealthy. Any amount higher than $200 million is disproportionate even
to [Bush]’s proposal.”
Food
Stamps provide funds that help low-income families purchase food in
grocery stores throughout Iowa. As such, the program both helps
families meet their nutritional needs, while at the same time boosting
farm income and local economies.
For more information about Food Stamps, food security and/or the federal budget, check the following links:
http://www.iowafiscal.org
http://www.iowapolicyproject.org
http://www.cbpp.org/
State of Iowa
http://www.dhs.state.ia.us/dhs2005/dhs_homepage/index.html
Nonprofit Food Provider Agencies
http://www2.northeastiowafoodbank.org/managed/index.asp
http://www.foodbankofiowa.org/alliance.html
http://www.secondharvest.org/
Hunger and Food Security Issues
http://www.frac.org/
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