LINCOLN, Neb. – New legislation making its way through Congress aims to keep food on the tables of people struggling to find steady employment.

Since 1996, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) strips childless adults between ages 18 and 49 of benefits after three months if they don't work or enroll in job training for at least 80 hours a month.

Elizabeth Lower-Basch, who directs the Income and Work Supports Team at the Center for Law and Social Policy, says current rules ignore challenges faced by low-wage workers.

She cites one common example: "If you work at a retail store, they may schedule you for 20 hours one week, but then only 8 hours the next week. So, if you don't hit that 20 hours a week, you could lose your nutrition benefits even though you're working."

SNAP helps make food affordable for nearly 40 million low-wage workers, children, seniors and people with disabilities, including more than 175,000 Nebraskans.

The Trump administration has argued that increasing work requirements will help people escape poverty. In February, the administration proposed a rule to limit a state's ability to waive time limits in areas of high unemployment, which could lead to an estimated 755,000 people losing benefits.

CLASP filed comments objecting to the rule.

Lower-Basch believes time limits and other requirements for SNAP are frequently based on false stereotypes that perpetuate the myth that recipients aren't working and don't want to work.

She points to research showing that access to SNAP actually increases the likelihood of employment and self-sufficiency.

Approximately 58% of SNAP recipients work, and 82% were employed immediately prior to or after receiving benefits.

"Not being able to eat doesn't make anyone more able to find a job," she observes. "But also, the reality is, most SNAP recipients either are working while they're getting SNAP, having low wages, or [they] worked in the recent past or will soon."

Known as the Improving Access to Nutrition Act, House Resolution 2809 was introduced his month by U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and has been assigned to the House Agriculture Committee.

According to Lower-Basch, the measure would give more than 3 million Americans more time to find employment with predictable hours and better wages, instead of leaving them to find a job on an empty stomach.



get more stories like this via email

A measure in the Washington State Legislature would provide free school meals to K-12 students, but nutrition service workers are worried they are not being considered.

The American Federation of Teachers of Washington represents kitchen workers and is supportive of the bill, but the union said lawmakers also need to ensure there is enough staff to provide the meals.

Kristine Bengochea, kitchen manager for the Northshore School District in King and Snohomish counties, said staffing is a key component of the effort.

"With this new bill coming up, we are so concerned with how many actual workers there will be available to feed all the children," Bengochea noted.

Bengochea pointed out her kitchen has about nine workers and serves 300-400 students daily. The measure is meant to extend a federal policy from the pandemic, which allowed all students to receive meals. The office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which requested the legislation, did not respond to a request for comment.

Based on the pandemic, AFT Washington expects the number of students it feeds to double from before COVID-19. Bengochea recalled the pandemic was a hard experience for many workers.

"We burned out so quickly with the workers that we had, and this year the workers have either retired early or just didn't come back," Bengochea explained. "We're afraid that's going to happen again with this bill coming out."

The Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education passed the measure this week. The House version is scheduled for an executive session in the Committee on Education today.

A recent survey offers insight into the challenges with hunger many Nevada families are facing on a daily basis.

The "Feeding Our Community" survey from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada found about half of its clients sometimes have to choose between food and transportation. One in three chooses between paying for food or medical bills.

Nicole Lamboley, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, said the yearlong study is done in partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno, and underscores the many "impossible choices" leading Nevada households to become food-insecure.

"Sixty-five percent of the people surveyed had a household income of less than $20,000 annually," Lamboley reported. "That is significant. So that means, you know, they are making those tough choices."

The data showed 72% of those surveyed rent or own their own place with 26% paying a mortgage. It was collected from March 2021 through March 2022.

Because of the time frame, survey administrators realized it would be important to address whether and how the pandemic played a role. According to Lamboley, almost 30% of those surveyed said they started using a food pantry as a direct result of the pandemic.

She noted not only has demand for emergency food gone up, but half of the participants reported buying fewer healthy food options due to lower costs.

"When people have to make tough choices, they choose unhealthy food options," Lamboley observed. "Oftentimes they go with what is not best. Fresh fruit and vegetables are sometimes out of reach for people."

Lamboley added they are currently serving more than 130,000 people per month, which is a record for the organization. Their service area encompasses 90,000 square miles of Northern Nevada and into California's Eastern Sierra region.

Under a new project, locally sourced food is part of a food assistance program for members of the Lummi Tribe in northwest Washington.

The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations is a federal program providing meals in the form of commodity boxes for low income residents. But food boxes have neglected to include culturally relevant food for the diversity of reservations across the country, instead providing options like catfish and buffalo.

Lummi Nation is part of a pilot providing a locally caught option: sockeye salmon.

Billy Metteba, food sovereignty project manager for the Lummi Nation, said salmon is food his ancestors ate and members of the tribe know how to prepare, unlike buffalo.

"Shifting the mind frame, the mindset to food sovereignty, we should be in charge of saying what is appropriate for our people," Metteba asserted.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded eight tribes, including the Lummi Nation, $3.5 million for a demonstration project to provide local food options to the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. This fall, sockeye salmon became available for the northwest Washington tribe.

The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations is meant to supplement meals for participating households. However, a 2016 study found the program was the sole or primary source of food for 40% of those households.

Jake Garcia, public policy manager for Northwest Harvest, said many folks from the Lummi Nation have spoken to his organization about the program's inadequacies.

"The economic insecurity that they experience, the food insecurity certainly; all these different pieces are indicators for economic success," Garcia explained. "They're directly tied to your food and so when that program is insufficient and not meeting the needs of the folks on the reservation, that's a real problem."

But Metteba acknowledged the allowance for more locally sourced foods in the program is a good sign.

"When they funded this program it's like giving us access to go out and harvest our own food that we've always harvested for as long as I can remember, for as long as my grandparents can remember," Metteba emphasized. "It's important that we pass this down to our kids because without this, without fighting for something, it eventually will be lost."

The original demonstration project was funded through the 2018 Farm Bill. Tribal leaders across the country hope lawmakers in Congress will broaden the project in the 2023 Farm Bill.