Yet, lawmakers and the president are divided over how to find the $11.5 billion to fund the nutrition programs in the farm bill over 10 years that the House had approved. This is the time to put aside differences and take action to improve the nation’s leading anti-hunger programs. This is not the time to nickel and dime critical federal food programs.
The need for food assistance is great in Montana, as we have over 174,000 people who struggle to find enough money to pay for a healthy, adequate diet. More than 80,000 of our neighbors n children, parents and the elderly n rely on food stamps, nearly half of those being children.
The Food Stamp Program is a nutrition program that is the nation’s first line of defense against hunger. The program is designed to help families only when their incomes are very low. Once family incomes improve, they are no longer on the program. People are often amazed to learn that food stamps provide an average benefit of only $1 per meal per recipient, or that families losing work and having no income can’t get food stamps until all but $2,000 of their assets are gone. Additionally, the minimum benefit is only $10 a month n the same as it’s been for three decades. While the cost of food has risen in that time, benefit allotments have not kept pace. In fact, to match the spending power of $1 from nearly three decades ago, it now takes $3.74 (2006). The price of milk, for example, has gone up 13 percent in the past year, as have prices on many other basic foodstuffs.
Although Montana has a very low unemployment rate, around 3 percent, our per capita income ranks 42nd in the country. A significant portion of our population suffers not from unemployment, but from low wages that do not support the cost of living. Montana ranks 11th in the country for the number of people working multiple jobs, trying hard to make ends meet. Low wages and fixed incomes are the primary reasons why Montanans seek emergency food every month. People are often forced to make tough choices between paying for housing, medicine, fuel or food. Adults often skip meals so there is enough for the children to eat.
Congress must also recognize that providing better support for food stamps would quickly inject new life into the Montana economy. Economic experts have called an increase in food stamp benefits an effective tool for simulating the economy. Food stamps lead directly n and quickly n to increased economic activity, with low-income communities receiving the immediate benefit.
Congress should also increase the last resort for those who struggle to pay for food by supporting the commodities programs. Today, many food banks are stretched thin due to increased demand. Shelves are often bare, and desperate families have nowhere to turn. There has been a consistent rise in the demand for emergency food among Montana Food Bank Network’s 190 member agencies in all parts of the state. In 1999, those agencies had about 363,000 total client visits. In 2006, this number jumped to over 705,000. With the economy sputtering, and possibly headed into recession, it’s vital that food banks receive adequate financial support.
If the role of the administration and Congress is to serve the people first, then it is time to support strong and adequate funding for our nutrition and food programs.
This column was signed by Minkie Medora of the Food Security Council, and Kate Bradford, Jan Armstrong and Bernadette Gunn of the Department of Public Policy for the Montana Food Bank Network.
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