NHLA CHAIR CALLS ON CONGRESS TO FIX FOODSTAMP CUTS THAT WILL HIT VULNERABLE FAMILIES

Decries lack of progress to counter inequities faced by farmworkers

Washington, D.C. -- The Chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 37 of the nation’s preeminent Latino organizations, issued the following statement regarding the House-Senate compromise version of the Farm Bill (HR 2642) and its SNAP provisions (commonly known as the foodstamps program), which was approved by the U.S. Senate yesterday is expected to be signed by President Obama. SNAP is especially important to Latino families, as almost two-fifths of all children facing hunger are Hispanic. Almost 17 percent of SNAP recipients are Latino. The bill also requires the Department of Labor to consult with the Department of Agriculture and prepare a report in response to proposals to exempt agricultural employers from certain kinds of court actions that are used by the government to remedy violations of the minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Hector Sanchez, Chair of NHLA and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA):

“The Farm Bill compromise going to the President's desk is an improvement over the bill approved by the House of Representatives last September which would have gutted the SNAP program by $40 billion. In addition to avoiding a draconian cut to SNAP, the compromise includes a pilot program to encourage recipients of food stamps to buy more fruits and vegetables.

“However, the compromise would still cut the foodstamps program by $8 billion over ten years. While part of this cut is justified by removing benefits from certain categories of recipients, such as wealthy college students, much of the cut will reduce benefits for thousands of economically distressed families in a number of states. Any legitimate savings found in the SNAP program should have been used toward bolstering assistance to those in need. We call on Congress to work with us to find solutions to assist those who will be negatively impacted by the Farm Bill’s SNAP cuts so that no man, woman or child in America goes to bed hungry at night,

“Regrettably, the Farm Bill does nothing to reduce inequities farmworkers face. The budget cuts in nutrition programs harm the working poor whose labor on farms puts food on our tables. And farmworkers face additional injustice due to the bill’s provisions that push the executive branch toward supporting additional exemptions for agricultural employers under minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.”