An Assembly Resolution opposing efforts by the United States Congress to reduce funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Whereas, America's health depends on good nutrition; however, many low-income households need help to maintain a healthy diet, and each month millions of low-income Americans receive assistance through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the food stamp program; and

Whereas, State and local social services agencies provide monthly SNAP benefits to eligible households, and these benefits, which are issued through electronic benefits transfer debit cards, are used to buy food at authorized retail food stores; and

Whereas, Eligible households may use SNAP benefits to purchase any food that is intended to be prepared and eaten at home, such as: breads and cereals; fruits and vegetables; meat, fish, and poultry; dairy products; and seeds and plants intended to grow food, but not for growing flowers or feeding birds; and

Whereas, SNAP benefits may not be used to purchase: beer, wine, liquor, tobacco, or cigarettes; foods that are hot at the point of sale; food to be eaten in a store; vitamins or medicines; pet foods; or nonfood items such as paper products, soap, cosmetics, or other household goods; and

Whereas, According to the SNAP monthly data compiled by the Food and Nutrition Service in the federal Department of Agriculture, as of September 2012, prior to the increase in SNAP benefits resulting from Hurricane Sandy, there were 22,973,657 households, comprising 47,710,283 persons, receiving SNAP benefits nationwide, which represented a 13.8 percent increase in the number of such households and a 10.4 percent increase in the number of such persons since October 2010; and

Whereas, According to the Division of Family Development in the New Jersey Department of Human Services, as of January 2013, there were 421,468 households, comprising 849,594 persons, receiving benefits under New Jersey SNAP, which represented a 7.4 percent increase in the number of such households and a 7.1 percent increase in the number of such persons since January 2012; and

Whereas, SNAP is the largest federal nutrition program and one of the largest social safety net programs in the United States, and nearly 75 percent of its participants are families with children; and

Whereas, A study by the Economic Research Service in the federal Department of Agriculture, released in April 2012, concluded that "SNAP significantly improves the welfare of low-income households" and that SNAP benefits have a particularly strong effect on child poverty; and

Whereas, The Economic Research Service study found, over the period from 2000 to 2009, that SNAP benefits accounted for an average reduction of 4.4 percent in the overall prevalence of poverty, an average reduction in the overall depth and severity of poverty of 10.3 and 13.2 percent, respectively, and an average reduction in the depth and severity of child poverty of 15.5 percent and 21.3 percent, respectively; and

Whereas, SNAP raised the incomes of about four million people above the federal poverty line in 2010, including about two million children, under a federal Census Bureau poverty measure that counts the value of SNAP and other non-cash benefits; and

Whereas, Among households with children that include an adult who is not elderly or disabled, 87 percent of the households receiving SNAP in a given month include an individual who worked in the prior year or will work in the following year; and

Whereas, On April 9, 2012, over 90 national and regional hunger relief, public health, faith-based, and other advocacy organizations sent a letter to the United States Congress urging the Agriculture Committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives to strengthen and protect nutrition programs, including SNAP, in the 2012 Farm Bill; and

Whereas, Notwithstanding this widespread support for SNAP, its demonstrated effectiveness as a social safety net program, and the critical role that it plays in alleviating poverty, the House Agriculture Committee, in July 2012, passed H.R.6083, the "Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012," which included $16.5 billion in cuts to SNAP over 10 years, and the Senate, in June 2012, passed S.3240, the "Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012," which included $4.5 billion in cuts to SNAP over 10 years; and

Whereas, Although S.3240 and H.R.6083 were not enacted into law in 2012, these bills were each reintroduced in 2013, as S.954 and H.R.2642, respectively, and S.954 was passed by the Senate, while H.R.2642 was passed by both chambers of Congress; and

Whereas, The Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Resolution passed by the House of Representatives in March 2013 would have cut SNAP by $135 billion, or almost 18 percent, over 10 years, harming low-income working families, among others, and called for converting SNAP to a block grant starting in 2019 and allowing states to decide how to cope with the substantially reduced funding, which would result in states reducing benefits available to all SNAP recipients or making some groups of households entirely ineligible for SNAP benefits, or some combination of the two approaches; and

Whereas, The public interest is served by the protection and preservation of the vital assistance made available through SNAP to millions of economically vulnerable citizens, and it is imperative that this House lend its voice to the chorus of opposition against reductions in SNAP funding that would directly harm poor, hungry families all across America; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. This House opposes any efforts by the United States Congress to reduce funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, one of the nation's largest social safety net programs, which has helped to lift large numbers of families out of poverty and provides critical assistance to millions of other families, most of them with children, who are struggling against food insecurity and other economic challenges.

2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the Speaker of the General Assembly and attested by the Clerk thereof, shall be transmitted to the presiding officers of the United States Congress and each of the members of the Congress elected from the State of New Jersey.

STATEMENT

This resolution opposes any efforts by the United States Congress to reduce funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.