Press Releases

Today, Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), one of the leading voices in Congress calling for action to address hunger, applauded the release by the White House of a new report on hunger highlighting how SNAP improves food security and life outcomes for families, with long-term benefits for health, education, and economic well-being. At the same time, far too many families remain food insecure, and strengthening SNAP benefits would help to address this.

“Today’s White House report confirms that SNAP works. It is one of the most effective federal programs in reducing hunger and food insecurity and it has a lasting positive effect on vulnerable populations, especially children.

“Today’s report also confirms what we have heard repeatedly in the House Agriculture Committee this year: The majority of those on SNAP are children, elderly and the disabled. And as the economy continues to recover, more families are working, but there are still far too many who are earning so little that they qualify for SNAP. It’s deeply troubling that wages haven’t kept up with the cost of meeting basic needs.This report also shows that the current SNAP benefit is too low. It runs out before the end of the month and families are forced to cobble together enough to eat.

“Ensuring that children have enough healthy food to eat early in their life through SNAP is one of the best investments we can make in future health, well-being and economic self-sufficiency. I am grateful to the White House and USDA Secretary Vilsack for their leadership on hunger, both with this report and their work to strengthen critical programs like school meals that help families in need.

“As Congress finishes this year and looks to 2016, I urge all of my colleagues to read this report and think twice before cutting SNAP or turning it into a block grant program. These would be harmful policy changes that would significantly undermine the program. Instead we should be focused on strengthening SNAP. Hunger is a solvable problem and we must work together to strengthen critical anti-hunger programs like SNAP that so many American families rely on.”

Click here to read the full text of the report.

Key Findings of White House Hunger Report:

The White House report draws on a growing body of high-quality research about food insecurity and SNAP, finding that:

1. SNAP plays an important role in reducing both poverty and food insecurity in the United States—especially among children.

• In 2014,at least 4.7 million people, including 2.1 million children, were lifted out of poverty due to SNAP benefits. 
• Overall, research indicates that rates of food insecurity are up to 30 percent lower among households that receive SNAP compared to what they otherwise would be—with impacts for children that are at least this large. 
• A recent study shows that the temporary increase in SNAP benefits implemented under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act resulted in 530,000 fewer households experiencing food insecurity.

2. SNAP’s positive impact on children begins even before birth and lasts well beyond their childhood years, including improving health, education, and economic outcomes.

• Maternal receipt of Food Stamps during pregnancy reduces the incidence of low birth-weight by between 5 and 23 percent.
• Among adults who grew up in disadvantaged households when the Food Stamp Program was first being introduced, access to Food Stamps before birth and in early childhood led to significant reductions in the likelihood of being obese (16 percentage points) and significant increases (18 percentage points) in the likelihood of completing high school. 
• Early exposure to food stamps also led to reductions in metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions associated with heart disease and diabetes) and increased economic self-sufficiency among disadvantaged women.

3. While SNAP allows families to put more food on the table, current benefit levels are often not sufficient to sustain them through the end of the month, resulting in substantial consequences.

New research has linked diminished food budgets at the end of each month to high-cost consequences, including:

• a drop-off in caloric intake, with estimates of this decline ranging from 10 to 25 percent over the course of the month;
• an increase in the rate of hospital admissions due to low blood sugar among low-income adults (a 27 percent increase between the first and last week of the month);
• an increase in the rate of disciplinary actions among school children in SNAP households (an 11 percent increase between the first and last week of the month);
• diminished student performance on standardized tests, with performance improving only gradually again after the next month’s benefits are received.

4. The Administration has developed several initiatives to improve food security and nutrition, particularly of vulnerable children.

• The most recent revision to the WIC food package, which provides supplemental nutrition to low-income women, infants, and children, added a cash value voucher (CVV) to allow participants to purchase fruits and vegetables on top of the basket of goods historically provided by the program, representing a substantial increase in the value of the package.
• The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), offered nationwide starting in 2014, allows schools in high-poverty areas to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. CEP has improved access to healthy meals in eligible schools, while eliminating the administrative burden associated with collecting and processing household applications for subsidized school meals.
• The Administration has also worked diligently to expand access for low-income children to nutritious food during the summer months when school meals are unavailable and the risk of food insecurity is heightened.
  • In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) delivered 23 million more summer meals than in 2009.

Congressman McGovern has been a strong supporter of the Administration’s successful implementation of the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (SEBTC) pilots, which provide additional food assistance to low-income families with children during the summer months. These pilots were found to reduce very low food security among children by 26 percent.  The President’s 2016 Budget proposed a significant expansion of this effort.

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