The
procedure used on Friday night to pass a Senate budget without public
review was shameful. That proposal eliminates the State Food Assistance
Program at a time when hunger continues to be on the rise in Washington:
nearly 1 in 4 Washington families rely on food stamps to meet their
nutritional needs. This elimination is particularly hurtful to food
banks who cannot replace the loss of benefits to these families but will
be the only option available to them to find nutritional assistance. I
am thankful to each of the 24 Senators who fought to restore funding for
SFA, and I am deeply dismayed by the 25 Senators whose nay votes stood
for pushing these families further into hunger. I urge you to set aside
your differences. Please work together to pass a budget that continues
funding SFA and includes language to give the Department of Social and
Human Services flexibility to increase monthly SFA benefits when funding
becomes available.
Please also take a moment to
send a letter to the editor of your local paper. You can use the
template below, provided by our friends at the Children's Alliance, to
personalize. For publication in most papers, letters should be no longer
than 200 words.
EDITOR:
Axing food assistance for vulnerable families is a cruel cut in times like these.
Food
banks are already stretched way too thin. Hunger has nearly doubled.
And the State Senate has passed a budget that would eliminate State Food
Assistance - pulling the anti-hunger safety net out from under
thousands of legal immigrant children and adults.
(Personalize this letter here)
No
child, no matter where their parents come from, should go to school
with their stomachs growling. No student should have to consider
dropping out of school to help feed their families when they should be
studying to make a better life for themselves and a better future for
Washington.
Shame on the razor-thin majority of Senators who want to leave our children hungrier - and weaken our state's future.
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