Congress has the Chance to Alleviate Hunger through Historic Investments
(updated Dec. 3, 2021)
By Alison Maurice, Domestic Policy Associate
Update as of December 3, 2021
For additional background information, see previous updates to this post below.
What is the status of the social spending bill, also known as the Build Back Better Act?
The Alliance to End Hunger is cautiously optimistic that the Build Back Better Act is on track for passage before Christmas. The House of Representatives has now passed the historic piece of legislation which included critical investments in nutrition and anti-poverty programs.
What’s next?
The legislation next must pass in the United States Senate. The bill is now before the Senate and Majority Leader Schumer has stated that he wants to vote on the bill before the Christmas holiday.
What is the Alliance to End Hunger advocating for?
It is with great urgency that the Alliance to End Hunger calls on the Senate to quickly pass a final Build Back Better Act that includes key nutrition, anti-poverty, and health-equity provisions as outlined in the recently passed House bill and below:
· expand the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program nationwide to all children eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch, for two years;
· expand the number of schools that can offer free meals to students by increasing the community eligibility multiplier to 2.5 and lowering the eligibility threshold to 25% ISP, for five years;
· provide $250 million to launch a healthy food incentive demonstration and $30 million for school kitchen equipment grants,
· allocate $140 million to support senior nutrition programs;
· provide full Medicaid coverage for pregnant and postpartum individuals for 12 months after pregnancy; and
· extend the expanded Child Tax Credit for one year and make full refundability for families with little to no income permanent.
Why is it important for Congress to pass funding for these programs?
The pandemic has caused record rates of hunger which will have costly long-term health, educational, and economic ramifications if not addressed, particularly for children of color. These are investments in the next generation that are crucial toward mitigating the negative consequences of COVID-19 and building a healthier future.
According to USDA’s evaluation of the Summer EBT demonstration project, the additional cash benefit successfully decreased food insecurity and increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains among children. Additionally, research shows that school meals are the healthiest meals that children consume when compared to foods eaten from other sources, such as the grocery store or restaurants. Increasing access to free school meals is crucial towards child health and academic success at school.
Seniors have also faced extreme vulnerability during the pandemic. New supplemental federal funding will assist senior nutrition programs in continuing to meet the unprecedented demand for nutritious meals for older adults through infrastructure and technology investments, making it possible for local organizations to improve and acquire the crucial assets needed to sustain operations.
The enhanced CTC benefit due to COVID-relief is already having a huge impact, particularly full refundability for families with little or no income. Extending the enhanced benefit and making full refundability permanent will be a lifeline for the poorest families with children. Columbia University researchers estimate that ongoing COVID tax credit relief efforts continue to have a sizable effect on reducing child poverty, with the greatest gains for Black and Latino children. Further, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly half of parents who received the monthly child tax credit used the money for food, cutting food insufficiency rates by more than 20% for households with children.
What can I do to help?
Call on your Senators to pass the Build Back Better Act with strong investments in anti-hunger programs and anti-poverty programs. Use the Alliance to End Hunger’s priorities as a guide for your calls, emails, or social media engagement with your Senators. Please reach out to Alison Maurice, domestic policy associate, with the Alliance to End Hunger, to learn more about how you or your organization can get involved.
Build Back Better Act Update as of November 4, 2021
For background information, please see the original post from October 8, 2021, below.
The Alliance to End Hunger is hopeful that Congress will pass historic proposals that will feed and support the health of millions of low-income children and people. The House and Senate continue to negotiate on the Build Back Better Act, this time with a reduced topline number of $1.75 trillion. On Thursday, October 28th the President released an updated framework for the bill and later that same day, the House released updated draft legislative text for Congress to consider.
The Alliance to End Hunger urges Congress to pass the following proposals included in the updated draft plan (as of November 3, 2021):
· expand the Summer EBT program nationwide for two years, to provide a $65 electronic-cash benefit to eligible families to supplement food costs during the summer months;
· expand the number of schools that can offer free meals to students, for five years;
· allocate $140 million to support senior nutrition programs;
· provide full Medicaid coverage for pregnant and postpartum individuals for 12 months after pregnancy; and
· extend the expanded Child Tax Credit for one year, with full refundability for families with little to no income, a measure that drives 87 percent of the expanded program’s anti-poverty impact.
What are the next steps?
The House is still revising the draft legislation, with provisions like paid family leave, being added back in after being scrapped from the plan in the newly released draft text. Once the House negotiates the final bill, they will bring it to a vote. Should the bill pass in the House, it must make its way through negotiations and passage in the Senate. Next, if the final Senate spending bill does not match the House bill, the package will require further work to make the House and Senate bills consistent with each other. Congress is hopeful that they will pass the social spending bill by Thanksgiving.
What can individuals or organizations do to help make sure these priorities cross the finish line?
Call on your Members of Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act with strong investments in anti-hunger programs and anti-poverty programs. Use the Alliance to End Hunger’s budget reconciliation priorities as a guide for your calls, emails, or social media engagement with your Members of Congress. Please reach out to Alison Maurice, domestic policy associate with the Alliance to End Hunger, to learn more about how you or your organization can get involved.
Original Post from October 8, 2021
Historic and transformative proposals are coming together in Congress to pass the Administration’s broad social spending plan through a budget process called “reconciliation,” known as the Build Back Better Act. The spending package makes a number of critical investments, including enhancing nutrition programs to tackle hunger and expanding tax credits that would lift families out of poverty. The initial $3.5 trillion price tag will likely be scaled back due to opposition from some moderate Senate Democrats. Democrat leaders have indicated the overall cost of the spending plan likely will fall somewhere between $1.5 — $3.5 trillion and that they plan to bring the bill to the floor for a vote at the end of October.
Behind closed doors, negotiations are underway, and it is unclear where the overall topline cost of the package will land. Reducing the overall price tag for the package will force hard choices about what provisions remain in the legislative package from initial proposals in the House. What is clear is that Americans will continue to struggle without necessary expansions of programs that have already proven effective at reducing hunger and poverty.
The Alliance to End Hunger is sending a strong message to the Congress and it is more crucial than ever that the anti-hunger network join together and elevate the urgent importance of ensuring investments are not removed or scaled back in the final Build Back Better Act.
[Check out all of our letters to Congress urging for investments in nutrition programs.]
What anti-hunger and anti-poverty proposals do advocates want to see cross the finish line?
Throughout the pandemic we have witnessed how millions of families have been left behind. We are at a critical moment where the U.S. can choose to support a more equitable recovery or one that continues to exacerbate health and income disparities and leaves underserved community that have experienced significant hardship, behind. The Alliance to End Hunger calls on Congress to keep alleviating hunger and poverty at the forefront of their priorities, as outlined below.
- Make it easier for low-income children to access healthy foods.
There are a couple key proposals that will directly reduce childhood hunger. First, it is time to expend the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) program nationwide to all eligible children. Summer EBT is a cash benefit distributed on a card to families with children who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals. This benefit helps supplement a household’s food budget since those children are no longer able to access meals when school is not in session. Summer EBT is currently a demonstration project and only available to operate in handful of states. According to USDA’s evaluation of the Summer EBT demonstration project, the additional cash benefit successfully decreased food insecurity and increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains among children. Summer EBT gives families flexibility and communities another tool to alleviate childhood hunger in the summer.
Additionally, there are proposals to increase the number of schools that can offer school meals at no cost to children and technology investments to help automatically connect children who are enrolled in Medicaid with free meals at school. There are other investments for school kitchen infrastructure upgrades and incentives for schools to serve healthier meals.
- Reduce hunger among seniors.
Newly supplemental federal funding will assist senior nutrition programs in continuing to meet the unprecedented demand for nutritious meals for older adults. It will also allow investment in critical infrastructure and technology, making it possible for local organizations to improve and acquire the crucial assets needed to sustain operations, such as kitchen equipment, delivery vehicles and safe, accessible buildings and facilities. Enacting this funding is vital to support the health, well-being and dignity of older adults both today and for years to come.
- Support families with tax credits.
It is essential that Congress not let the new Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provisions expire next year. The recent changes to the EITC and expanded CTC because of COVID-relief are already having a huge impact and need to be made permanent. Especially full refundability of the CTC so that children in families with little or no income may receive the full value of the credit. Columbia University researchers estimate that ongoing COVID tax credit relief efforts continue to have a sizable effect on reducing child poverty, with the greatest gains for Black and Latino children.
Why should anti-hunger advocates care about the Child Tax Credit?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly half of parents who received the monthly child tax credit used the money for food, cutting food insufficiency rates by more than 20% for households with children.
Is this a partisan issue?
First, ending hunger and poverty should not be a partisan issue. However, the current circumstance has made the budget reconciliation process very political. Currently, no Republican has vocalized support for the current bill that is being negotiated. This is unfortunate because many of the provisions mentioned above have received bipartisan support in earlier COVID-relief legislation. The on-going devastation of the pandemic requires Congress to prioritize passing legislation that alleviates hunger and poverty.
What can individuals or organizations do to help make sure these priorities cross the finish line?
Call on your Members of Congress to pass the Build Back Better Act with strong investments in anti-hunger programs and anti-poverty programs. Use the Alliance to End Hunger’s budget reconciliation priorities as a guide for your calls, emails, or social media engagement with your Members of Congress. Please reach out to Alison Maurice, domestic policy associate with the Alliance to End Hunger, to learn more about how you or your organization can get involved.
