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Central American Foreign Aid Bread for the World released a press statement last week on the Trump administration’s decision to cut all U.S. foreign assistance, including global nutrition and poverty-focused development assistance, to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Following the announcement, the State Department informed several congressional offices that $450 million in uncommitted funds from a March 2018 spending bill will be redirected to other initiatives and that the department will review already-committed funds from fiscal years 2017 and 2018 to determine whether they can be rerouted to other projects. Whether the president can reroute the funding entirely and what Congress can do about it remains unclear. Cutting aid to these countries is counter to American values and interests. It will lead to additional migration in the region and only exacerbate tensions at the U.S-Mexico border. Bread urges Congress to demonstrate strong bipartisan support for aid to Central America. This includes $250 million for global nutrition programs, which have proven effective at reducing malnutrition in places like Guatemala and Honduras. |
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Domestic Food Assistance USDA SNAP Rule: The USDA has reopened the public comment period on its proposed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rule that could take food away from as many as 755,000 unemployed and underemployed people currently receiving SNAP benefits. If you didn’t get a chance to comment, there is still time! The new comment period will be open from April 8-10. Bread for the World submitted a public comment on behalf of David Beckmann, Bread’s president, in February. In addition, Bread has worked with coalition partners, especially in the faith community, to generate as many public comments as possible. The recording of Faith Community Webinar: Responding to SNAP Waiver Rule Change Proposal and an interfaith toolkit developed by Bread for the World and MAZON are helpful resources if you are interested in submitting a public comment. Child Nutrition: The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on Child Nutrition Reauthorization on Wednesday, April 10 at 10 a.m. The committee will hear from two panels of witnesses, first from government officials who administer and oversee the programs, and second from experts across the country. A full list of witnesses and a livestream of the hearing is available on the Senate Agriculture Committee’s website. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) has indicated he would like to complete a child nutrition reauthorization before retiring from Congress at the end of 2020. Disaster Aid and Puerto Rico: The House will vote this week on a $17.2 billion disaster aid package. The package includes $600 million for Puerto Rico Nutrition Assistance. The package (H.R.2157) is the same as the $14.2 billion measure (H.R. 268) the House passed in January, plus $3 billion for flooded Midwestern states. Senate Republicans and the White House have opposed the House Democrat package because of what they call “too much money for Puerto Rico.” The House package will likely pass. Senators continue to discuss a disaster aid package deal. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said he is optimistic they’ll reach one. But those talks have been focused on Senate agreement rather than looping in House leadership or the White House. Puerto Rico continues to be the sticking point. Senate Republicans’ latest offer was focused on ensuring Puerto Rico can use old funds from Community Development Block Grants. Shelby said it is now time for Democrats to make a counteroffer. |
This is an important time to get involved and make your voice heard. Congress and the president are making major decisions that could seriously harm individuals and families living in poverty and at risk of hunger. Bread for the World’s policy agenda focuses on the issues that will put our country and world on track to ending hunger by 2030.
These are some of the issues that Congress or the administration need to address in order to accomplish this goal.
Right now, the biggest threat to people struggling with hunger and poverty continues to be the threat of large budget cuts. Your advocacy is critical in ensuring that spending bills provide the strongest support possible for anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts in the United States and around the world. Bread for the World's 2018 Offering of Letters campaign asks Congress to invest in and protect key programs that help improve the lives of men, women, and children facing hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world.
The U.S. government plays a crucial role in the fight to end malnutrition among mothers and children overseas. Our nation’s continued commitment is key to ending this global scourge. Bread for the World wants Congress to increase funding for the nutrition and health of mothers, newborns, and young children. Bread and its partners believe that more funding for nutrition programs is needed in fiscal year 2017. Increasing U.S. investment in global maternal and child nutrition is central to successful development and helps improve the potential of millions of people. This was the focus of Bread's 2016 Offering of Letters Campaign.
There is growing bipartisan momentum for reforming the U.S. criminal justice and prison systems. Formerly incarcerated people are far more likely to face hunger and poverty. Many employers refuse to hire people with criminal records. Laws ban people with various convictions from accessing certain safety-net programs. Without income and without access to federal benefits, returning citizens are vulnerable to hunger and recidivism.
In overseas emergencies, our federal government often sends assistance in the form of food aid. While food is an important tool to saving millions of lives each year, it is time to update the government’s programs in this area to enable them to respond better in a 21st century, globalized world. Reforms to the food-aid programs would allow food aid to benefit tens of millions more people each year—at no additional cost to U.S. taxpayers.
One of the major reasons people leave their home countries is to escape poverty and improve their livelihoods. While reducing poverty may not be the primary goal of most contemporary immigration policy-reform efforts, it should certainly be one of its clear goals. Undocumented immigrants suffer disproportionately from food insecurity and poverty once they arrive in the United States. Lack of legal status contributes to the economic insecurity and exploitation of undocumented immigrants. It also means that they have limited access to the social safety net in the United States. Many undocumented people, specifically children, only know the U.S. as home. That is why reforming our broken immigration system must include a responsible pathway to earned citizenship.