Home, c 1937, by Paul Weller. Courtesy of Hobos io Street People, a project of WRAP, the Western Regional Advocacy Project
C u ts to the n a tio n ’s fo o d s ta m p program are not ju st about politics, but the degradation o f o u r youth
B Y JO ANNE ZUHL
S T A F F W R IT E R
" I f y o u 're interested in saving
very few years, when Congress turns its .
fcealtli care costs, the dum best
watery eyes toward the nation’s subsidy-rich
th in g yoa can do is cu t n u tritio n .
Farm Bill, it chomps hard on the bit that is
foodstamps. This year was no exception. Between Food is the cheapest m e d ic in e ."
the Democratplans for $4 billion over 10 years,
and the Republican goal of nearly $40 billion over
their nutrition, and she recently testified to the
the same period, a compromise — at least among
Senate Agricultural Committee on the
lawmakers in D.C. — seems to have been struck.
consequences of the cuts now hitting the books.
Congress is now shuttling through a 10-year, $9
billion reduction to the nation’s Supplemental
Joanne Zvdndz Regarding the impact on children,
Nutritional Assistance Program,-or SNAP. That’s
what do you know that you want lawmakers to
on top of unilateral reductions to the program in
understand?
November after the 5-year recovery package raft
out
Dr. D eborah Frank: That hunger is a health
Yes, it’s politics. Yes, it’s about subsidies and
issue for everybody, particularly for children,
food security. But it’s also about human rights;
starting during gestation. If the mother is hungry
says Dr. Deborah Frank. Frank is the founder and
during pregnancy, the child will be smaller and
principal investigator of Children’s HealthWatch.
sicker and the effects go on throughout life,.
Frank has researched the cumulative risk factors in
Early childhood is when the baby’s brain is going
children’s households, such as food, energy, and
to increase two and a half times — two-third^ of the
housing insecurity and their impact on children’s
adult size — with adequate nourishment. Nutritidn
health and development She copies to the
is the building block of the brain. Nutrition is an
research naturally, as a practicing physician whose
essential part of our immune System. Humans who
clients are primarily families on public insurance
are malnourished are more susceptible to infection
or with no insurance at all. She is currently the
and they stay sicker longer. And often they are left
Director of the Grow Clinic for Children at the
underweight by the infection and catch the next
Boston Medical Center and is professor of Child
infection.' Which is why we see such a tight
Health artd Well-Being at Boston University School
connection between children’s nutrition and
of Medicine.
hospitalization.
She doesn’t mince words when it comes to the
It’s been calculated that a $20 billion cut in
impact slashing the nation’s food safety net will
See FOOD, page 4
have on the millions of children who rely on it for
a
Dr. Deborah Frank,
founder and principal
investigator of Children’s
HealthWatch
Multnomah County mulls
fall-out from SNAP cuts
his past month, the Multnomah
County Board of Commissioners
heard testimony from food stamp
recipients about the potentially devastating
impact of cuts to the federal program. More
than 20 percent of Multnomah County
residents rely on the program to
supplement their nutrition through hard
times.
Now those residents will have to deal
with Congress’ decision to shave $9 billion
from its budget over the next 10 years,
much in the form of assistance to families.
These cuts come on top of the across-the-
board reduction in benefits in November as
a result of the expiration of the 2009
stimulus package.
In Oregon, about 800,000 individuals —
one in five Oregonians — are on food
stamps, totaling $1.2 billion in assistance.
As such, Oregon has one of the highest
rates of food stamp use in the nation, a
residual effect of the lingering economic
slump that means more people working
fewer hours at lower wages. On average,
SNAP benefits pay about $1.40 per meal.
■
See MULTNOMAH, page 4
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A talk w ith City
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Sherlock H olm e's
alter ego talks career,
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