Today was a difficult day for those of us who care about food insecurity in America. This afternoon, The House of Representatives passed H.R. 2 (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, otherwise known as the Farm Bill), which would make deep and structural cuts to how food insecure Americans access SNAP (food stamp) and other critical federal nutrition programs.
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is the only organization in American Jewish life devoted solely ending hunger and its causes in the United States and Israel. I have supported their work for decades.
Here are five short pieces from MAZON explaining why this disastrous, partisan and cruel piece of legislation must not become law.
PRESS RELEASE: Los Angeles, CA (June 21, 2018)
In response to the passage of H.R. 2 (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, otherwise known as the Farm Bill), Abby J. Leibman, President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, issued the following statement:
“By the slimmest of margins, the House of Representatives has failed the American people and passed the harmful and highly partisan Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2).
This vote represents a stunning failure of leadership. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (WI-1) manipulated the process with a singular goal in mind: to advance his ideological and dangerous crusade to undermine our nation’s social safety net. His tactics represent politics at its worst; his success today is to the detriment of the American people.
This bill is nothing but a demonstration of a broken process, bad policy, and poor leadership. The American people deserve better.”
ADDITION MATERIALS
- MAZON’s statement just about today’s vote. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/mazon-labels-passage-of-h-r-2-a-failure-of-leadership
- An in-depth analysis about why the Farm Bill is so destructive. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/so-i-hear-the-farm-bill-is-bad-but-how-bad-is-it
- A 30,000 ft view of why the Farm Bill in the House will hurt people. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/2018-farm-bill-will-harm-real-people
- MAZON’s reaction to the Senate Bill that passed committee https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/mazon-gratified-by-senate-proposal-for-2018-farm-bill
- MAZON’s press release in which 1,000 rabbis and Jewish clergy signed on. https://mazon.org/inside-mazon/mazon-delivers-jewish-clergy-sign-on-letter-to-members-of-congress
