Statement attributed to Vince Hall, Interim Chief Government Relations Officer
Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, is relieved by the coming Senate vote on the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 — a bill that includes vital increases in federal nutrition support for the millions of families and individuals facing numerous barriers to accessing enough to eat.
In particular, the bill includes invaluable provisions that will put more Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit food dollars in the pockets of families facing tough times, continue payments through the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program for households with children who have lost access to nutritious school meals, and provide additional financial support through strengthening the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which will reduce child poverty by 50 percent.
The bill also provides $4 billion in funding for USDA to use to support our nation’s food supply chain, including food purchases to be distributed to people in need through nonprofit organizations. Feeding America looks forward to working with USDA to implement this important additional investment in food purchases in an equitable and effective way.
As our communities face extreme levels of hardship, our lawmakers’ greatest risk is doing too little — not too much — for people facing new uncertainty about how they will receive their next meal. To ensure no food need goes unmet, and our economy is given a helping hand, more must be done, including extending the 15 percent boost to SNAP benefits for the entirety of the pandemic and economic downturn and providing additional investments in The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to help our network keep up with unwavering demand.
Feeding America looks forward to President Biden signing this COVID relief bill into law that ensures our neighbors who have faced over a year of heightened crises can get access to the nutritious food they need to thrive. We also look forward to partnering with the Administration and Congress to invest in additional food assistance measures that will contribute to our nation’s path toward recovery.
Contact
Please contact one of our media representatives or call 800-771-2303
About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 5.3 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on X.com.