Millions of Americans today are just one lost job, one health crisis, or other family emergency away from becoming food-insecure. The White House rule to eliminate Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility could cause more than 3 million people to lose SNAP benefits and put school meals in jeopardy for more than 500,000 children. Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility was designed to help families get on their feet, allowing states to open up eligibility to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other anti-poverty programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Both programs help low-incoming working families put food on the table while they work to improve their economic security and transition out of poverty.
For school-aged Texans, this not only means less food at home, but less food at school as they will lose their eligibility for free school meals. A statement made earlier this month by Kathy Green, Director of No Kid Hungry Texas, noted that the proposed changes to SNAP will leave 217,000 Texas children vulnerable to hunger. We at No Kid Hungry Texas know that undernourished children may have more difficulty focusing in school causing chronic absenteeism and even lower grades.
By law, the White House must read and tally every comment submitted to the Federal Register by the public comment process. We hope you will consider taking action to protect Texas children by submitting a comment to the federal register by September 23rd.
Learn More:
- Share Our Strength blog post containing oral testimony as given by Senior Vice President Lisa Davis to the House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations about the changes to Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility
- No Kid Hungry Official Statement from Lisa Davis: New White House Rule Will Increase Childhood Hunger
- State-by-State Impact of Proposed Changes to “Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility” in SNAP from Mathematica
Mia Medina, Program Associate, No Kid Hungry Texas