DELAURO: FOOD STAMPS CENTRAL TO COMBATTING POVERTY

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to today's U.S. Department of Agriculture report: "Alleviating Poverty in the United States: The Critical Role of SNAP Benefits."

According to the report, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, led to an average decline of 13.2 percent in the severity of poverty from 2000 to 2009, including a 21.3 percent decline in the severity of child poverty. The anti-poverty effect of food stamps was somewhat greater among individuals in nonmetropolitan areas. The antipoverty impact of food stamps was strongest in 2009, when benefit increases were authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). In 2009, the depth of child poverty was reduced by 20.9 percent and the severity of child poverty by 27.5 percent.

"As this report makes clear, food stamps provide a vital lifeline preventing hunger and combating poverty for millions of families during difficult economic times. In 2009, I worked to include an increase in the monthly food stamp benefit in the Recovery Act, an increase that, as this report points out, had a critical antipoverty effect, particularly among children. Food stamps work to ensure that in times like this historic recession families can still afford their basic food needs. Those who chose to criticize SNAP and end the program as we know it would be well served by reading this report to see the detrimental impact such a policy would have on the ability of millions of families, including children, to avoid going hungry. The findings of this report indicate that cuts to the food stamp program are essentially a backdoor method of raising the depth and severity of poverty and not addressing the underlying problems of an unhealthy economy and hungry families."