April 3, 2019 Page 11 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. O PINION Cruel Threats to Hungry Families and Children Join us right now in speaking out m arian W right e lDelman Once again children and families are under attack. After failing in past efforts to slash funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps), the Trump administration is taking a new ap- proach to crippling the program millions of families in the United States depend on to survive and alleviate their hunger pangs. Recently the administration proposed regulations to tighten restrictions on access to SNAP benefits for unemployed and un- deremployed people who can’t document sufficient weekly work hours. This rule would take food assistance away from an estimated 755,000 people who cannot find work. It is also a callous response to the bipar- tisan Farm Bill which passed in the fall and rejected harmful cuts to SNAP. If this rule goes forward, it’s not just unemployed and underemployed adults who will go hun- gry—poor children suffer when adults in their household lose access to food assis- tance. But it’s not too late to protect these children if you make your voice heard im- mediately and tell the Department of Agri- culture not to take food away from needy by families. Children need reliable access to healthy food to thrive. Hunger and malnutrition jeopardize children’s health, devel- opment, school readiness and job readiness. SNAP helps feed more than 40 million low income peo- ple in America including nearly 20 million children—more than one in four—and lifted more than 1.5 mil- lion children out of poverty in 2016, more than any other government program. Given the critical role SNAP plays for children and families in communities across the country, the proposed changes that would kick hundreds of thousands of people off SNAP are mean spirited, short sighted, and harmful, will increase food in- security, and must be stopped. While current law doesn’t permit SNAP work requirements for children or adults with children, the ripple effects of these expanded restrictions extend beyond the people they target. Imposing work re- quirements on able bodied adults without dependents harms children too because children living in poverty often depend on pooled resources including SNAP benefits from extended family members, such as older siblings, who don’t claim them as de- pendents. This means time limits will hurt not only the adults cut off from the food they need to survive but also children and others they may be helping support. Studies also show low-income parents without primary custody of children often rely on the availability of SNAP and other forms of assistance including the Earned Income Tax Credit to help them stretch available dollars from work and afford child support payments. In both scenari- os additional burdensome restrictions on SNAP eligibility for these adults means fewer available resources to support the health and well-being of children. Young people aging out of foster care without permanent families also will be at increased risk. They may continue to suffer the trauma that led them into care or result- ed from their time in care, leading to high rates of unemployment, poverty and in- creased need for food assistance. This vul- nerable population already faces enough formidable barriers to accessing SNAP due to existing work requirements. Any ef- forts to further restrict access or eliminate state exemptions from these requirements would be particularly harmful. The newly released 2020 Trump Budget makes clear this administration is willing to slash programs needy families depend on to make ends meet while increasing military spending and diverting billions to the border wall. The President’s harsh budget calls for $220 billion in spending cuts to SNAP over the next decade. Let’s fight back at a White House that takes aim at basic supports millions of children de- pend on. Join us right now in speaking out against harmful changes to SNAP! As the Food Research and Action Center puts it, echo- ing the gospels, prophets and teachings of every major religion: Food for the hungry shouldn’t have a time limit. Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund.