Congress Must Invest in SNAP Immediately

California Association of Food Banks Calls on Congress to Urgently Invest in SNAP,
Make Critical Anti-Hunger Investments
 

California Association of Food Banks is deeply concerned about the delay in action by Congress to invest in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as CalFresh in California, as well as continue the highly successful Pandemic EBT program feeding low-income children.

Approximately 1 in 3 California workers have filed for unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting unprecedented economic downturn. It is no surprise that our 42 food bank members are seeing a significant and continued increase in demand for food.

Right now, nearly 1 in 4 Californians report being food insecure – that is about 10 million people – with even deeper hunger among African-American and Latinx households.

For every meal provided by food banks and their partners, SNAP provides nine. Food banks cannot meet the incredible need created by COVID-19 on their own. Anti-hunger organizations, businesses, and the government must work together to ensure that families in this country – many of whom are facing hunger for the first time due to this pandemic – are not forced to choose between putting food on the table or a roof over their head.

And, SNAP provides an important economic boost for California, particularly given the central role of food and farming in our economy. During the last recession, every dollar spent on the SNAP program, generated as much as $1.80 in total economic activity.

We ask Congress to not break for recess until they:

• increase the maximum SNAP benefit by 15 percent
• raise the minimum SNAP benefit to $30 a month
• suspend all harmful rules to cut SNAP benefits
• extend the Pandemic EBT program

In addition to these critical anti-hunger priorities, we continue our call for the COVID-19 package to include other investments vital to supporting low-income families and the food banks going to heroic efforts to serve them through this ongoing crisis.

https://www.capolicylab.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/August-6th-Analysis-of-UI-Claims-in-California-During-the-COVID-19-Pandemic.pdf

https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/state-food-insecurity.html

https://www.cafoodbanks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Economic%20value%20of%20SNAP.pdf