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GEARING UP FOR FARM BILL 2007: OUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM WORK BETTER FOR WORKING FAMILIES, SENIORS AND EVERYONE! When Food Stamps were made a national entitlement program in the 1970s, hunger in America plummeted. Food Stamps help hungry families no matter where they live purchase an adequate, nutritious diet. Since welfare reform in the late 1990s, Food Stamps have grown in importance for working families. Together, Food Stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit raise low-wage workers' income over the poverty line. Seniors and people with disabilities, too, depend on Food Stamps to bolster limited cash assistance and keep them eating healthily, particularly as medical costs take a larger share of household budgets. Food Stamps also support communities in times of economic downturn. The program keeps grocery stores in business when unemployment rises. Major catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina also show the importance of Food Stamps as a national program, responsive to community crises. Our next opportunity to make changes in the Food Stamp Program to better address hunger in America is in the Conversations are already happening across the U.S. on key issues. On October 6, members of the Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium spoke at a USDA Listening Session in Oakland hosted by Asst. Sec. Eric Bost. Here is some of the testimony presented by WRAHC members: Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force California Association of Food Banks California Association of Nutrition Network Advocates Central Coast (CA) Hunger Coalition At the Portland listening session on October 24, several current Food Stamp recipients spoke to Asst. Sec. Bost about the program:
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