Everyone expected 2024 to be a critical year, due to the U.S. presidential elections and the continuing wobbling of the economy as the world gets back to some kind of “normal” after COVID (which hasn’t stopped making people sick by the way.) Our country and the state of California continue to face the fallout of the pandemic and the food price inflation of the past two years. The destructive wars in Gaza, Ukriane, in Sudan, and South Sudan among other places have only exacerbated tensions further and made the dream of ending hunger in the world an even more distant reality.
California:
The Governor announced his proposed budget for California on January 17, under the shadow of a deficit that is anywhere from $38 billion to $58 billion depending on who you ask. Remarkably most human services funding was left unscathed---no cuts, but no increases either---with some glaring exceptions. His budget is poised to deal a death blow to the Market Match program, which has been built up for the last 14 years into a remarkable hunger- and inflation-fighting program as well as a revenue source for our family farms in the state, which provide the lion’s share of the country’s fruits and vegetables.
Of the $35 million allocated for 2025 through 2027 for the California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP), which funds Market Match, he proposed axing $33.2 million leaving not even enough for a symbolic gesture. You can learn more about Market Match at https://marketmatch.org or on the Market Match section on this very website. People who care about fighting hunger need to move fast. While it’s true that the final budget is negotiated in May and June between the Governor and the legislature, our Assemblymembers and Senators are being bombarded with pleas from competing priorities.
It should be noted that some other programs that help farmers, especially beginning farmers and healthy food hubs for cities, will be slashed as well.
Governor's Budget Would Destroy Market Match
The Governor is also cutting some of the supportive services in the CalWORKs program, including programs that ensure families can maintain housing and find employment for people with very difficult challenges to getting a job:
Governor Proposes Cuts to CalWORKs Services
The World-SAY NO TO GENOCIDE IN GAZA AND ETHNIC CLEANSING IN THE WEST BANK
Meanwhile in Gaza starvation is the cruelest weapon that continues to be used in spite of international pressure on the Israeli government to let sufficient food in to bombarded civilians, 25,000 of whom have been killed up to this point but with many thousands more at risk of famine.
UN Warns of Starvation in Gaza
As we speak, an entire population of two million people are trapped in a completely human-made crisis. Israeli military forces are preventing survival food and water assistance from reaching a civilian population, this time in Gaza. While the US and Egypt have urged the opening of the Rafa crossing from Gaza into Egypt, Israel is only allowing water and not food or medicine through, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Palestinians. As has happened in the past months in Ethiopia (Tigray), and Armenia (the forced exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh), the world seems to be standing by while genocide, ethnic cleansing and war-related starvation are happening.
HALA speaks out against the dehumanization being spread by media and politicians including Israel’s ambassador to the UK claiming against all evidence that there’s “no humanitarian crisis in Gaza”, Senator Tom Cotton’s remarks that Israel can “bounce rubble”, and Israeli characterization of Palestinians as animals (even while 20% of Israel’s citizens are Palestinian)
HALA speaks out against anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment that’s already led to the murder of a six year old boy in Illinois.
HALA speaks out against the depopulation of innocent Palestinian farmers in the West Bank who are being threatened, harassed and chased out by settlers in illegal settlements.
The crisis in Gaza did not begin with the events of Saturday October 7. For 56 years Palestinians have lived under a brutal occupation that takes their land, destroys their livelihood, builds roads around their villages that they are not allowed to travel on, and imprisons thousands of them without trial or even formal charges. During the years-long siege of Gaza which began in 2007, the government of Israel even restricted the amount of food going into the territory, in which 2 million people live compressed in an area the size of Detroit, with neither Israel nor Egypt allowing them passage.
Israel for many years has actually supported strengthening Hamas (citation) and weakening the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, which collaborates with Israel. 'Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Likud party's Knesset members in March 2019. "This is part of our strategy - to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.” (https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history )
In the West Bank for the past several years, residents of illegal settlements have assaulted innocent people and harassed them, in attempts to empty their villages of people. These people have nothing to do with Hamas. But the international community has said nothing. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and 20 communities have been forced to flee entirely from armed, rampaging settlers, who are being supplied with automatic weapons and are committing atrocities with no restraint from the Israeli Defense Forces. These attacks have intensified since last week:
https://www.salon.com/2023/10/17/with-all-eyes-on-gaza-israeli-soldiers-and-settlers-dozens-of-west-palestinians_partner/
We are in no way justifying the attacks that sparked the current situation. But currently a literal genocide is underway as Israel refuses to open the Rafa crossing to allow food, water or medicine to the 2 million Gazans, half of whom were ordered to leave their residences in the North with an impossible only 24 hours notice.
See action alert from Jewish Voices for Peace https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/take-action/#act-now
Sadly there are other places where hunger is used to push non-combatants to the brink of death, for example the Sudan:
War Causing Famine-Like Conditions in Sudan
Federal Government:
A bipartisan Child Tax Credit proposal has been released in the U.S. Senate. This program helped millions during the pandemic but ended in 2021. It represents one of the most efficient means ever undertaken to get funds to low income families at a minimum of bureaucratic hurdles. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that “In the first year, the expansion would lift as many as 400,000 children above the poverty line. 3 million more children would be made less poor as their incomes rise closer to the poverty line.”
Child Tax Credit Could LIft 400,000 Kids Out of Poverty
The Child Tax Credit can lift millions out of poverty, but it has some flaws---major flaws according to Global Womens’ Strike, including that it leaves out the poorest people and it’s paid annually not monthly---allowing debt to accumulate rather than helping families stay out of debt:
Child Tax Credit Leaves Many Vulnerable Kids Behind
Poor Peoples Campaign
The Poor Peoples Campaign on March 2, in 30 states, will activate thousands of people in 30 states to march in their state capitol cities to demand just solutions to a comprehensive range of policies impacting poor people, including policies on housing, health care, income support, food, justice and other issues. Find out more here----the LA Contingent is organizing now!
Poor Peoples Campaign March 2 Events
Why Is It So hard To End Hunger?
In most cases hunger is an issue of the will. People in war torn countries aren’t eating because food is being blocked by their enemies. In the U.S., elected officials don’t feel enough pressure to retain funding for anti-hunger programs compared to pressure they feel from wealthy donors to maintain breaks and perks for the wealthy.
You can even get in trouble for feeding unhoused people out of your own pocket:Houston has a $500 fine for feeding the homeless. But there’s hope: recently in a case brought up under these charges, they couldn’t find enough jurors willing to issue the fine in case the defendant was found guilty:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/housing/article/food-not-bombs-trial-busted-jury-panel-homeless-18617041.php
Let’s be like those jurors and reject the criminalization of poor people, and of helping the poor.
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Hunger Action LA rallied advocates and low income people to support change in our state’s food assistance systems in 2023. Most of the legislative changes impacted the CalFresh program, which remains the #1 line of defense against hunger for four million in California. Our work together isn’t finished and we have a challenging year ahead, with inflation and state budget shortfalls potentially impacting the ability of food assistance programs to adequately meet the needs of low income workers, families, seniors, and people with disabiities. Here is a recap of some of the highlights of 2023:
Minimum Benefit for CalFresh: After the pandemic benefits ended in the spring of this year, tens of thousands of recipients of CalFresh food benefits found themselves reduced from as high as $281 in benefits per month to the almost useless sum of $23 per month. Advocates from around California hopped into action, with Hunger Action LA co-sponsoring SB 600, which proposed an increase in the CalFresh minimum benefit to $50, using state funding to fill the gap in federal funding. The bill found an ardent champion in author Senator Caroline Menjivar from the San Fernando Valley. Representing LA, Frank Tamborello and SSI recipient Trinidad Luna flew to Sacramento to testify at the Senate Human Services Committee hearing, where even Republican Senator Rosilicie Ochoa-Bogh signed on as co-author of the bill making it a rare bipartisan endeavor. In the quirky ways of state politics, the bill itself was put on ice for the next legislative session, but $15 million was allocated to begin the process of increasing the minimum benefit. While this sum is not high enough to raise every recipient to a $50 minimum, it is a start in improving the situation. It should be noted that other states have increased their minimum benefit, including New Jersey.
Reimbursement of Skimmed EBT CalFresh Benefits: Advocates succeeded in winning $42.9 million for administering and automating California’s plan to restore stolen benefits. Hunger Action LA was a plaintiff in a case several years ago (Court of Appeal decision in Esther Ortega et al., v. Kimberley Johnson, et al.) that the state was obligated to restore stolen benefits.
Food 4 All: HALA was proud to be part of the vast coalition working for Food 4 All to allow undocumented persons access to CalFresh. HALA arranged for client testimony at press conferences and in social media. The state budget allotted $40 million for an accelerated implementation of California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) benefits to begin issuance in October 2025 instead of January 2027. The first eligible group will be persons 55 and older, meaning the campaign must continue to bring in all age groups.
Access to Hot Food for CalFresh recipients: The inconsistent rules of federal programs often leave a void in access to survival resources for those seeking to stay afloat in the tough economy. A case in point is the SNAP program (CalFresh here): while we have a program that allows food benefits on the card to be used at restaurants by persons who are senior, disabled, or unhoused, you still can’t use CalFresh to buy prepared foods that are in grocery stores---such as the ubiquitous roasted chicken dinners, ideal for someone who has no cooking facilities but still ineligible for purchase by CalFresh. Hunger Action LA co-sponsored AB 712, authored by LA Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, which would allow purchase of hot or prepared food from grocery stores with CalFresh for all recipients. The bill was signed into law by the Governor. However, it still hinges on acquiring a waiver from the federal government to be implemented.
SSI/SSP: Hunger Action LA continued it’s leadership role among SSI recipients and as part of the CA4SSI Coalition, winning a grant increase of 8.6%, effective January 2024 for California’s 1.5 million senior, disabled and blind persons depending on Supplemental Security Income (SSI.)
In addition to the above, HALA as part of the state-wide coalition California Hunger Action Coalition (CHAC) won:
Support for emergency food in California food banks
Funding to increase nutritional quality of school meals
$35 million in California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) funding which supports the Market Match program
Challenges Ahead:
Federal changes impact CalFresh recipients over age 50: As part of a budget deal earlier this year to avoid federal government default, President Biden agreed to Republican demands to increase the age to 55 at which recipients of SNAP (CalFresh here) are required to be working 20 hours per week as a condition of receiving benefits. After three months of non-compliance, the person then becomes ineligible for nearly three years. The rule applies to people with no disabilities and no dependents (hence the awful sounding and de-humanizing acronym ABAWD or Able Bodied Adult Without Dependents.)
This rule existed since the 1996 “Contract With America” welfare reform package constructed by Newt Gingrich (and the rule in particular by Ohio past representative and governor John Kasich.) It originally applied to recipients aged 18 to 50, and the 20 hours work could be accomplished also through “approved work and training programs”. Over the years waivers were applied and used by the states, and everyone was exempted from the rule during the pandemic.
The rule is being rolled out in phases, with persons age 52 impacted beginning Oct 2023, then those age 53 or 54 beginning Oct 2024. There are some new exemptions for veterans and for unhoused persons, but less than half those impacted are in those two groups.
Hunger Action LA will seek to eliminate this rule (which may be around till at least 2030) and in the meantime explore ways to mitigate the damage, which will hurt people at the age at which finding a job becomes even more difficult.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/debt-ceiling-agreements-snap-changes-would-increase-hunger-and-poverty-for
Farm Bill:
Every five years (with delays having become a common occurrence), Congress passes an omnibus piece of legislation called the Farm Bill, about half of which deals with agricultural subsidies, crop insurance and similar items dealing with our country’s agriculture, and about half of which is the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps and now CalFresh here in California) . This is an opportunity for proponents of food assistance to push for beneficial things to the program, while opponents seek to make cuts.
Why are the two items linked? Partially, it’s because in theory SNAP users are purchasing American agricultural products, therefore the SNAP program is a piece of the funding for American farmers. It’s also what’s politically termed a “log roll” or “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”; rural representatives who wanted farm payments for their constituents agreed to support urban representatives’ need for food assistance for their constituents, and vice versa. This is less the case now, as even many conservative representatives often oppose ag subsidies (unless it’s their state’s primary money-making crop that’s involved.)
By the way, in California we have the opportunity to support CalFresh users purchasing California grown products---that’s a major part of what Market Match is about.
What are some major Farm Bill issues: In spite of the high political tensions dominating public conversation in the USA right now, there are some surprisingly bipartisan initiatives in the Farm Bill this year:
GusNIP: This program is named for Gus Schumacher, the pioneer of Market Match-type programs all over the country, and has become a major primary funding source for the program. These are programs that provide bonus dollars when participants use SNAP benefits to purchase fruits and vegetables. Currently organizations with Market Match type programs (known by a multitude of different names depending on your state) are required to “match” the funding they receive by 50%. Some states act as the matching funder for the program. In California, the state matches (and beyond) the federal funding from GusNIP with its own CNIP (California Nutrition Incentive Program). This is due to advocacy over the past decade led by the Ecology Center and with participation from Hunger Action LA and dozens of other California groups.
Bipartisan proposals in the Farm Bill would reduce the matching requirements to only 20%, allowing many more agencies and states around the country to begin providing bonus dollars to SNAP users at farmers markets and in fact at other locations including supermarkets and grocery stores.
SNAP Nutrition Security Act: New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker and Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio have introduced a bill that would require the US Department of Agriculture to turn over data on how the billions of SNAP dollars are being spent. While this bill has notable endorsers such as the American Heart Association, Hunger Free America and the Center for Black Health and Equity, there is concern that the “end game” is to next restrict what can be purchased with SNAP with an aid to eliminating “junk food” purchases. While it's laudable to want everyone to eat healthy, the problem in many low income areas in the country that healthy food is not available. How would junk food be defined and how would retail grocers react to having to separate different foods at the cash register? There’s also the issue of the constant stigmatization of food assistance recipients as being uneducated or unconcerned with health. Hunger Action LA prefers positive methods of making healthy food more affordable---such as Market Match---or, processes that disincentivize all of us from purchasing unhealthy products, not just low income people. A soda tax for example is something everyone would have to pay, not singling out poor people for punishment. It should be noted that Booker and Rubio’s SNAP Nutrition Security Act does not in itself call for restriction on what can be bought, but it’s clear that it’s ultimate goal is a path to such restrictions.
State Level: Special Circumstances Program
A stove and a refrigerator contribute enormously to one’s ability to economize and make the most of one’s food purchasing resources, whether that’s cash or CalFresh. Many of our most vulnerable residents in California, including the 1.5 million blind, senior and/or disabled recipients of SSI, find themselves in a real bind if their stove or refrigerator breaks down. From the 1970s until 2002, there was a program called Special Circumstances in which SSI recipients (and also, recipients of In-Home Supportive Services), funded by the state, which would pay for repair or replacement of these essential appliances. Funding ceased over twenty years ago.
Hunger Action LA and its allies in the CA4SSI Coalition will be advocating to reinstate this program in 2024. In addition to stoves and refrigerators, we seek to add air conditioning to the list and in fact prioritize it as global heating is resulting in more deaths in our elderly and disabled population.
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