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Farm bill helps people struggling with food insecurity

The legal director for the Food and Research Action Center says they are pleased the final farm bill didn’t expand work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Ellen Vollinger says the most important thing about the bill is that it doesn’t make hunger worse.

“Given the political environment and given the proposal that would have slashed $20 billion in SNAP food benefits over 20 years we’re really pleased they did listen to the stakeholders who tried to educate them about what was in the bill,” she says.

She tells Brownfield there is still a lot of work to be done in the future to improve SNAP benefit levels.

“The average benefits are only about $4 a person a day so it’s by no means a program that is adequate right now as it’s funded to do as much as it could to combat hunger in the country,” she says.

Vollinger says she was pleased members on both sides of the aisle came together to support the nearly 40 million people across the country who struggle against hunger.

The Food Research and Action Center is a DC-based nonprofit organization focused on getting rid of poverty-related hunger in the U.S.

Audio: Ellen Vollinger, Food and Research Action Center