Tell our lawmakers not to take food away from Iowans!

Action alert from Iowa Hunger Coalition

House File 3, which targets SNAP, Medicaid, and other public assistance programs, was introduced the first week of the 2023 Iowa legislative session and is currently assigned to the Iowa House Health and Human Services Committee.

This bill would restrict SNAP participants’ ability to make their own food choices, take food away from Iowans, and increase hunger and food insecurity in our state. The harmful proposals in the bill include:

Restricting SNAP purchases to only foods on the WIC-approved food item list.

This would severely limit the foods people could purchase with their SNAP benefits. SNAP recipients could no longer purchase meat, other than certain varieties of canned tuna and salmon. Meat, Poultry, and Seafood is the #1 food category purchased by SNAP participants nationwide, amounting to 1 in every 5 dollars of SNAP benefits spent.

Other foods that would be restricted from SNAP purchases make up a lengthy list including frozen prepared foods, butter, flour, cooking oil, herbs, spices, coffee and tea, cottage cheese, snack foods, nuts and seeds, white rice, rice noodles, jam, canned fruits and vegetables, soup, condiments, white bread, meal kits, bottled water, sliced cheese, crackers, and on and on. It’s much easier to list what you still would be able to purchase with SNAP than to list all the items you could not.

Learn more about this bad bill

HOW TO HELP

Real stories from real Iowans can stop HF 3, but legislators need to hear loud and clear that we will not stand for this attack on SNAP and the rely on it. You can help stop this bad bill by taking action:

Contact the 39 co-sponsors of House File 3 (below) and the members of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Let them know you do not support the efforts to make it more difficult to access SNAP and other public assistance programs in Iowa and ask them not to advance the bills out of committee.

Help raise awareness. Tell your friends and family about the attacks on SNAP and encourage them to take action as well. Share about what’s happening in the legislature on social media. Write a letter to the editor and submit it to your local paper.

Share your story with us. Would you or someone you know be personally affected by these proposed policy changes? We want to hear from you. Fill out a short form to share your story with us.

Questions?  Contact us at iowahungercoalition@gmail.com.