Congress must protect kids’ health in the 2018 Farm Bill
One in six Colorado kids don’t always know where their next meal will come from. This stress is something no child should have to face, especially in their earliest, most formative years.
When kids go hungry or get by on poor-quality foods, they are more likely to get sick, be hospitalized more often, and struggle with learning and behavior in school and at home.
Fortunately, we can prevent many costly and often lifelong health problems by looking beyond the walls of our clinics and into the community because health starts where we live, learn, eat and play. As pediatricians we know that access to adequate nutrition is vital throughout life. That’s especially true for our youngest Coloradans, where a strong start can help build healthy communities, a robust workforce and a thriving economy for generations to come.
Last month, the U.S. House passed sweeping draft farm bill legislation — the Agriculture and Nutrition Act (H.R. 2) — which proposes nearly $20 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) benefits over a decade. SNAP is the first line of defense against hunger for over 42 million Americans nationally, including one in 12 Coloradans, and it is under scrutiny by Congress with this year’s farm bill reauthorization.
Colorado representatives Diana Degette, Jared Polis and Ed Perlmutter cast “no” votes on H.R. 2. Congressmen Scott Tipton, Ken Buck, Doug Lamborn and Mike Coffman voted “yes,” and in doing so, supported pushing more than two million individuals off SNAP rolls, including those in households with children. A key feature of the House bill is a stricter SNAP work requirement — including for certain parents — that would threaten access to food stamps for children in low-income families. Most adults in these families are already working, often in lowwage and unsteady jobs.
Furthermore, the House bill’s proposed elimination of socalled categorical eligibility would have trickle-down consequences on a range of state programs, too. It would mean, for example, that hundreds of thousands of kids would have a harder time accessing school breakfast and lunch, jeopardizing their healthy development and ability to learn in the classroom.
The partisan food fight over SNAP in the House farm bill threatens the health of millions. At a time when Congress is paying close attention to cutting costs, we should remember that providing children healthy food offers a high return on investment for generations to come. Food is the fuel we all need for our bodies and minds in order to be productive members of society.
So while we are disappointed that H.R. 2 passed the House, we are encouraged by the Senate Agriculture Committee’s farm bill, which follows the longstanding bipartisan tradition of previous farm bills by avoiding major cuts to SNAP. The Senate measure passed on a vote of 86-11 at the end of June with support from both senators Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet. The Senate bill not only protects the structure of SNAP that is key to the program’s success, it would also strengthen program integrity, improve opportunities for SNAP beneficiaries to get plugged into the workforce, invest in nutrition initiatives to support healthy eating, modernize systems and technology, and more.
Now, the House and Senate must iron out differences between their respective farm bills in the coming months. Final passage of the House’s harmful farm bill would be a step backwards for our state. SNAP works, plain and simple, and it is a worthwhile investment in the future of our country. So, we urge the full Colorado delegation to throw its support behind a final product that closely resembles the Senate measure.
Christina Suh is associate medical director of the Child Health Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She and Sandra Hoyt Stenmark serve as chairs of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Colorado Chapter’s Food Security Task Force.