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Feeding America urging Senators to include SNAP benefits

Feeding America, which represents 200 food banks, is urging Senate leaders to include increased SNAP benefits in a final stimulus bill.

Carrie Calvert, the group’s director of ag and nutrition government relations, tells Brownfield Ag News she’s encouraged by recent signs of support from GOP Senators including the chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, “Senator Pat Roberts discussed increasing SNAP benefits just yesterday. Also, Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska also have tweeted their support.

Calvert says the Senate-passed HEALS Act contains no increases for SNAP but the House-passed HEROES Act does, “SNAP was protected in a bipartisan way during the Farm Bill. We think it can be temporarily increased in a bipartisan way in the next stimulus package.”

Calvert says there’s been huge demand at food banks since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, an increase of 40 to 50%.