Congress | Hunger Free Colorado https://hungerfreecolorado.org Making sure all Coloradans have sustainable access to nutritious, affordable food Wed, 12 Jul 2023 20:45:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://hungerfreecolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/pea-150x150.png Congress | Hunger Free Colorado https://hungerfreecolorado.org 32 32 Hunger Free Colorado’s Statement in Support of the Hot Foods Act https://hungerfreecolorado.org/in-support-of-the-hot-foods-act/ Wed, 12 Jul 2023 20:37:57 +0000 https://hungerfreecolorado.org/?p=13493 As a statewide anti-hunger nonprofit that works directly with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants, Hunger Free Colorado expresses strong support for Colorado Senator Michael Bennet’s proposed bill to lift the existing ban on hot foods in SNAP. Current federal SNAP rules, which prohibit SNAP households from purchasing hot prepared foods, limit household choice and reduce access to nutritious foods. Our community members have shared with us the positive impact that access to hot foods would have on their lives, with working parents stating that the ability to purchase a hot meal would free up time and allow them to spend more quality time with their children. Caregivers have shared that access to hot foods is important to ensuring that older adults and persons with disabilities can still access a balanced meal without needing caregiving assistance, and individuals experiencing homelessness have expressed how nourishing a warm meal would be before a cold night. Lifting the existing ban on hot foods is a commonsense measure that would expand our communities’ access to nutritious foods by allowing households to exercise greater choice over the food they and their families consume. We are grateful to Senator Bennet for championing this effort in the Senate. We look forward to continuing to work together to end hunger one step at a time.

Read the official press release.

]]> The Impact of the Debt Limit Compromise https://hungerfreecolorado.org/debt-limit-compromise/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 15:46:48 +0000 https://hungerfreecolorado.org/?p=13333 The debt limit compromise that has been reached by Congress avoids default by sacrificing access to vital resources for low-income Americans. The agreement expands cruel and ineffective work requirements for both Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This agreement will cut off thousands of Coloradans from SNAP by adding work requirements for adults aged 50-54 without dependent children, on top of existing work requirements for adults aged 19-49. Extending these barriers to older adults—a population that experiences persistent challenges to employment such as poor health and stigma in hiring—will only increase hunger, poverty and suffering. While the agreement lifts work requirements for veterans, youth aging out of foster care, and persons experiencing homelessness, many people will still lose access to SNAP benefits. 

We know from extensive research that work requirements are ineffective for increasing employment or earnings and instead create bureaucratic barriers that cut off large numbers of people from vital aid, counterproductively making it harder to find and maintain stable employment.  These work requirements are rooted in racist and classist narratives, whereby low-income Americans and Americans of color are portrayed as lazy and undeserving. Scapegoating low-income Americans to promote policies that take away resources from households in need is unacceptable.

In addition to the harmful changes to SNAP and TANF, the compromise includes a claw back of COVID relief and limitations on domestic spending that will lead to further cuts in support to struggling individuals and families. These cuts only result in modest savings in the context of the federal budget but will push more people into poverty and hardship. We urge our Colorado delegation to reject any cuts that harm low-income Coloradans.  

If we chose to ensure that no American went hungry, we could easily do so. We hope that as we approach the Farm Bill, we remember that hunger and poverty are policy choices and it is our collective responsibility, and the responsibility of Congress, to make the right choices.   

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