Congress Must Provide Immediate Relief for Rising Food Prices
May 8th, 2008
The causes of rising food prices in the United States are complex, but one thing is certain: low-income people feel the greatest impact. Food accounts for 17.1 percent of income for households making less than $10,000 per year, compared to the U.S. average of 12.6 percent. While rising food costs are placing additional strain on family budgets, they are part of a long list of increasing costs for housing, childcare, healthcare, and fuel.
In the long term American families need the economic stability to withstand financial fluctuations. But right now Congress should provide immediate relief for struggling families by strengthening our food assistance programs.
Enrollment in the Food Stamp Program jumped considerably in the last year, in part because of higher food prices. A total of 28 million now receive food stamps each month; it is expected to reach as high as 29 million.
Participation in other programs is expected to rise as well. For programs like WIC that depend on annual appropriations, higher food prices mean higher program costs. Without additional funding from Congress, mothers and children have to be cut from the program.
Food banks traditionally help fill gaps in our safety-net by providing short-term, emergency food assistance. Food banks estimate a 20 percent increase in requests for help. The annual appropriation for The Emergency Food Assistance Program has not increased since 2003, despite the fact that the cost of food at home has gone up 18 percent since January 2003.
In the short term, Congress must provide immediate assistance through a second stimulus package to allow nutrition programs to meet increasing. The stimulus should provide 1) an immediate boost in food stamp benefit levels to help families meet today’s actual food prices; 2) additional WIC funding to ensure that all eligible women and children continue to receive benefits; and 3) additional funding for TEFAP so that food banks can help families weather higher food prices.
David Beckman is President of Bread for the World.
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