Hi friends,
Food, glorious food. When people are hungry, there is no more consuming thought. About 75 percent of Americans are concerned about food insecurity in the US.
Late last month, House Republicans passed a bill to expand work requirements for SNAP benefits. The program feeds tens of millions of Americans — when they can access their benefits — and the pandemic-suspension of work requirements expires in July.
There are already significant work requirements set to resume, but Republicans are trying to link cost-cutting for SNAP to the debt-ceiling crisis that they’ve manufactured. It is more of the same parsimonious wrangling that would add work requirements to Medicaid.
There are already legal standards for user-centered, mobile friendly digital services for many federally-administered programs. Congress should extend similar standards to SNAP, ensuring that states prioritize improvements that keep people from falling through the administrative cracks.
Call on Congress to expand SNAP benefits to meet the need. While you’re at it, add the paragraph (above) to your comment! This quick action is from Feeding America.
Most states have a central office that runs all of their SNAP programs. New York is one of ten outliers that delegate the job — including evaluating applications — to county offices. The county-run model is associated with higher costs and error rates, research has found.
That’s in part because decentralization makes it harder to hold counties accountable through state action or outside lawsuits — or, in New York, even to track their performance. Of the ten decentralized states, New York is one of only two that doesn’t make county-level performance data easily accessible. SNAP processing data isn’t public outside of New York City.
In NYC, 36 percent of people waiting for SNAP benefits must wait longer than 30 days, in violation of federal and state regulations. Short-staffing in the Human Resources Administration accounts for much of the delay, and the appalling lack of timeliness reported this spring was much improved from the fall. Yikes.
Tell the Governor that SNAP should be administered centrally to ensure that New Yorkers do not go hungry.
The legislative session ends in just three weeks, so we will be taking on a variety of issues in the final push. There are three pieces of legislation that would reform sentencing in New York by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences, allowing judges to modify excessive sentences, and enabling people who are incarcerated earn time off their sentences.
Tell your NYS legislators to take action on sentencing reform! This quick action is from Communities Not Cages.
The tragedy of dying in childbirth cannot be overstated. Childbirth should mark the beginning of the cycle of life, not its end.
The insufficiency of post-natal care is even more severe than the dangers of inadequate prenatal care. And of course, the Dobbs decision and the abortion restrictions that preceded it have only worsened the outlook for pregnancy and post-natal care.
Studies show that maternal death rates were 62% higher in states with abortion bans than those without. Further, the maternal mortality rate increased nearly twice as fast from 2018 to 2020 in states with restrictions. Secondly, it’s causing doctor shortages, especially in rural areas, forcing some patients to travel hundreds of miles to obtain maternity care.
Most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. Maternal death rates tied to COVID-related fatalities were twice and three times as likely for Latinas and Black women.
Demand passage of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Bill to address rising maternal mortality. This quick action is from Moms Rising.
Have a great day!
with love,
L