Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) visited FOOD Share in Oxnard to discuss the local food bank’s role in addressing food insecurity here in Ventura County. FOOD Share serves 74,500 people every month and distributes 12 million pounds of food annually.
During the visit, Brownley highlighted the draconian cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) included in the House Republican’s 2018 Farm Bill proposal, which will strain food banks and mean more people go hungry in Ventura County and across the country.
Last year, 59,000 Ventura County residents participated in SNAP, equaling $97 million in food benefits. More than half of SNAP households have at least one child, 40% have a disability, and 30% have a senior citizen in the home. In April, the House Agriculture Committee passed a Republican-only Farm Bill with significant changes to SNAP that would cause more than 1 million low-income households — particularly low-income working families with children — to lose their benefits altogether and millions more to have their benefits reduced.
“It is unacceptable that 1 in 6 people in Ventura County struggle with food insecurity,” said Congresswoman Brownley. “Today, I had the opportunity to tour FOOD Share’s facility and discuss the important work they are doing to help make sure that no one here goes hungry. Unfortunately, it is clear that the Republican SNAP cuts will only make it that much harder for FOOD Share to serve our community and help families thrive. It is so disappointing that, instead of working with Democrats on a bipartisan agreement to advance our shared goals, House Republicans introduced a hyper-partisan proposal that has derailed the process and threatens millions of Americans facing food insecurity. We know that this proposal is dead on arrival in the Senate, so this ideological gamesmanship is pointless and the delay it is causing will hurt our growers. Republicans need to come to the table and hammer out a bipartisan agreement – that can actually pass the House and Senate – now.”
Issues: 115th Congress, Agriculture