Thread by @rebeccavallas

As of this morning, Republicans are still pushing ahead for a vote on the #GOPFarmBill, which would strip more than 2 million Americans of food assistance.

So it feels like a good time to review some facts about hunger in America.

(THREAD)

For many of us, the word “hunger” evokes third-world images of kids with distended bellies. Or maybe the homeless man sitting on the subway grate. But in America in 2018, hunger and food insecurity are an alarmingly widespread experience.

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In a recent national survey conducted by @amprog, nearly 40% of Americans report that they or someone in their immediate family faced serious problems with “having too little money to buy food”—just within the past year. americanprogress.org/issues/poverty…

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Meanwhile, a study released yesterday by @UnitedWay finds that nearly half—43%—of U.S. households don’t earn enough to afford basics like food and housing.

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13 million, or 1 in 6 U.S. children live in households struggling to afford food. Inadequate nutrition during childhood can have lifelong consequences, hampering healthy physical and cognitive development, kids’ ability to learn, and more.
nokidhungry.org/who-we-are/hun…

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5 million U.S. seniors struggle with hunger, forcing many to make impossible choices. According to @FeedingAmerica, 63% of the senior households they serve are forced to choose between buying food and accessing needed medical care.
feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-amer…

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As many as 1 in 3 households with a disabled member struggle to afford food. Many are confronted with similar impossible choices, skipping meals so they can afford needed medications, or taking half a pill instead of a whole pill so they can eat. frac.org/wp-content/upl…

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Meanwhile, hunger isn’t just a consequence of disability—it’s a cause. As we speak, Victorian diseases associated with malnutrition like scarlet fever & scurvy are making a comeback in the U.K. as hunger has spiked following 8 years of austerity cuts. telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness…

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Hunger is widespread on college campuses as well. More than a third—36%—of college students struggle with hunger and food insecurity. (#FF @saragoldrickrab on this)
wihopelab.com/publications/W…

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While data are limited, studies indicate LGBT individuals face high rates of hunger as well. 2.2 million LGBT adults struggled to afford food within the past year, according to one 2016 study. cdn.americanprogress.org/content/upload…

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Ensuring that the richest country in the world doesn’t let its people starve was the whole rationale behind the Food Stamp program, today called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

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The meager assistance SNAP provides amounts to just $1.40 per meal—but it goes a long way towards alleviating hunger. PLUS: by helping people afford adequate nutrition, SNAP improves health and educational outcomes in the long-term.
cbpp.org/research/food-…

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The long-term benefits transcend the individual and family level and yield significant societal benefits. For example, access to SNAP is associated with lower health care expenditures.
cbpp.org/a-snap-partici…

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What’s driving widespread hunger in the richest country in the world? To be sure, it’s not a lack of resources—but policy choices.

Exhibit A: The tax cuts the GOP gave to the top 1% in their tax law cost more than *THE ENTIRE SNAP PROGRAM.*
americanprogress.org/issues/economy…

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The GOP’s complete unwillingness to raise the poverty-level minimum wage from $7.25/hour is a big part of the story. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would prevent 1.2 million households from going hungry right off the bat.
thenation.com/article/a-15-m…

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Raising the minimum wage would also yield savings in SNAP. Raising the min. wage just to $12 would save $53 billion in SNAP over 10 years by giving families a much-needed raise—nearly twice what the #GOPFarmBill would cut... by making people hungrier. americanprogress.org/issues/poverty…

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Yet in the face of all of these facts—and just months after giving $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans—the GOP is trying to ram through a bill to take food assistance away from more than 2 million Americans (the #GOPFarmBill).

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^
If this isn’t the kind of country you want to live in, there are 2 things you can do:

1. First, call your member of Congress at 202-224-3121 & tell them #HandsOffSNAP vote NO on the #GOPFarmBill.

Toolkit: handsoffsnap.org

2. VOTE IN NOVEMBER 🌊

/end (for now)

cc: #GOPFarmBill #HandsOffSNAP #ProtectSNAP