Food Stamp Protection Faces Uphill Fight

CHICAGO, IL (October 21, 2005) - Religious leaders from across the country, including Glenn Palmberg, president of the Evangelical Covenant Church, welcomed the news that the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee decided not to cut nearly $600 million from the Food Stamp Program.

Earlier this week, committee chair Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) dropped the proposed $574 million in cuts to the program in his package of $5 billion in spending reductions from the Agriculture Department that passed out of committee. The committee's recommended budget cuts - without any reduction in the Food Stamp Program - have been sent to the full Budget Committee. If approved by the full committee, the proposal will be presented to the Senate for a vote.

Chambliss said Tuesday that he would drop the proposed cuts largely because many conservative religious and service organizations had campaigned against them, characterizing the proposed cuts as immoral. Many Covenanters and North Park University students participated in letter-writing efforts opposing the cuts.

"It's very gratifying that people from both parties are willing to address poverty as a moral issue," Palmberg said in response to the committee's action. "We as Christians have a moral responsibility to work with the political process and sometimes find ourselves out of step with both parties."

Palmberg participated in a national telephone press conference co-conducted on Tuesday by David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, and Jim Wallis, the founder of Call to Renewal.

Wallis praised Covenanters for their assistance in fighting the cuts. "The Evangelical Covenant Church has been at the heart of this," he said, taking special note of the work by students at Calvin College and North Park University. "Something very powerful is happening."

Beckmann said he is "delighted" by Chambliss' decision and praised him for his "moral leadership." Calling the decision an "initial victory," he added, "we're far from done here. We've got a real uphill fight."

Wallis praised Senators Jim M. Talent (R-Missouri) and Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) who prompted the reversal of a Republican plan to cut food stamps, according to news reports. The food stamp cut would have affected 11 states, where some low-income families are automatically eligible for the benefits even though they do not receive welfare, according to Beckmann. The net affect of the cut would have been to remove 300,000 recipients from the program. The House Agriculture Committee is considering cuts to the program of more than $1 billion. Any difference in the bills between the two houses will be worked out in conference committee.

"It's unnecessary and downright wrong to cut food stamps and other programs from low-income people," said Beckmann. He noted that the people cut from the program still are part of the working poor who had lifted themselves out of welfare, but not above the poverty line. "I'm a fiscal conservative," Beckmann added. "I do not like the fiscal recklessness of the last few years, but to save $600 million or a billion dollars by taking away food stamp benefits is not the way to do it."

"We must draw a line in the sand - a moral line in the sand - against further service cuts for poor people and tax cuts for the wealthy," Wallis stressed. "People don't know they are considering $70 billion in tax cuts for the wealthiest and $35 billion in program cuts for the poor. It's amazing to me how they tinker with levels for families that are the working poor. They quibble and tinker about levels for these poorest people, but they won't even tinker with tax cuts for the wealthiest of the Americans."

Palmberg and leaders of other religious organizations, including the National Alliance of Evangelicals, have asked Congress to pass the Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005, which they say would eliminate hunger in the United States by 2015. The act would increase federal funding available to local organizations working to reduce hunger in communities nationwide.

The bill has bipartisan support including 120 sponsors in the House and 31 in the Senate. "We think we have a chance now to pass it by the end of the year," Beckmann said. Introducing the bill took five months, but has gained steady support thanks to letter-writing campaigns from religious organizations. "That changes the debate from how much are we going to cut food stamps next year to . . . how are we going to move forward."

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