Project Bread
As 1 in 5 households in Massachusetts face hunger, Congress is willingly putting millions of Americans at risk of being unable to afford enough to eat.
“Without exaggeration, Congress is advancing the most devastating attack on food assistance in our lifetime,” says Erin McAleer, President & CEO of Project Bread. “It is easy to get lost in the weeds right now. What we want everyone to understand is that this has the potential to destroy SNAP.”
There is irony in the fact that the House bill claims to achieve cost savings, when it slashes a program that generates billions in economic activity. In Massachusetts alone, SNAP brings $3 billion to more than 5,000 businesses across the Commonwealth. The cuts would also force Massachusetts to absorb $710 million dollars in new expenses each year, according to the Healey administration. If the state does not or cannot absorb this cost, even more people will lose critical access to much needed food assistance. This move — made under the guise of ‘encouraging work,’ and ‘eliminating waste’ — will achieve the exact opposite.
At a time when having a job does not guarantee the ability to feed yourself or your family, and every basic need, from food to rent to health care, is becoming more and more expensive, people are living with tighter budgets and fewer options. Instead of addressing these urgent, bipartisan concerns, Congress is actively creating barriers to the lifelines proven to prevent hunger and promote health.
““These proposals jeopardize the very infrastructure Americans count on to access food and stay healthy. People will fall through the cracks, not because they aren’t eligible, but because the system is designed to push them out."”
Erin McAleer, President & CEO of Project Bread
SNAP helps more than 40 million Americans afford food nationwide, including over 1 million Massachusetts residents. More than two-thirds of them are children, seniors, or people living with a disability. The proposed cuts will reduce access to the resources people rely on to eat. Every dollar in SNAP benefits generates up to $1.80 in economic activity. Medicaid and SNAP directly address the root causes of poor health and economic instability: food insecurity, poverty, and systemic inequality. Now is the time to push back against proposals that will harm the American people and lift up this news to let people know what is at risk.
The House of Representatives in Congress has passed a bill that proposes to:
Shift over 20% of Massachusetts’ program and administrative costs from federal to state funding, burdening the state budget with the weight of billionaire tax cuts.
Create stricter work and eligibility requirements for older adults and parents of children aged 7-18, adding more red tape for low-income families already juggling caregiving and economic insecurity.
Limit future adjustments to SNAP benefits, preventing necessary increases in the face of rising food costs, meaning the benefits will lose their ability to help families keep up with inflation.
Eliminate SNAP eligibility for legally present immigrants, including refugees and asylees who have been granted legal status based on well-founded fears of persecution or fleeing war-torn countries.
Next up, the Senate will consider this spending bill, so now is the time for us to take action. We’ve stopped proposals like this before. And with your voice, we will do it again. Join us in letting your lawmakers know we will not accept these attacks on our nation’s critical supports for the most vulnerable people across our Commonwealth and this nation.
Speak out against gutting SNAP!