NEWS: Congressman Greg Casar Warns Extremist Republicans’ Farm Bill Will Increase Hunger in Texas

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas), who serves on the House Agriculture Committee, warned that the House Republicans’ partisan approach to the Farm Bill would make food insecurity in Austin, San Antonio, and the state of Texas even worse by making the largest cut to SNAP in 30 years.

The House Agriculture Committee is set to markup and discuss the Farm Bill on Thursday. The draft introduced by Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) would change the formula by which Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are determined, resulting in roughly $30 billion in cuts over the next decade that would affect every SNAP participant.

“Feeding hungry children should be a no-brainer. But House Republicans’ extreme Farm Bill proposal is all about making the poor kids poorer and hungry children hungrier,” said Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas). “Texas already leads the nation in child hunger — why would we want to make that even worse?”

House Republicans’ Farm Bill draft would result in Texans receiving around $2.3 billion less in food assistance, while Texas tops the nation in hunger crisis. In Texas Congressional District 35 alone, more than 40,000 households participate in SNAP, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Over two-thirds of SNAP benefits go to households with children, and a majority of SNAP households include an elderly American or person with disabilities. 

“In the last year, Texas food banks have witnessed a surge in demand for food assistance, reaching levels not seen since the height of the pandemic,” said Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, the state association of food banks. “Maintaining the adequacy of SNAP benefits is good for everyone. Cutting future benefits would undermine SNAP’s ability to prevent hunger and make it harder for food banks to meet the needs in our communities. Continued modernization of the Thrifty Food Plan is essential to help ensure that SNAP participants—a majority of whom are children, seniors, and people with disabilities—can better afford the nutritious foods we all need to thrive.”

SNAP provides low-income Americans, the majority of whom are children and seniors, with an average of $2 per person, per meal. It is widely acknowledged as our nation’s most effective anti-poverty program. 

The cost-neutrality provision that House Republicans are imposing on the Thrifty Food Plan doesn’t just cut SNAP benefits. It hurts the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Plan (TEFAP), the program our local food banks rely on, through cutting funding by an estimated $100 million over 10 years. America’s families—including farmers who use SNAP during lean years—cannot afford this extreme Republican nutrition policy. 

In March 2023, Casar signed onto a letter opposing cuts to SNAP. 

Resources:

• Feeding Texas: Texas Thrifty Food Plan Impact Report 2024
• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP): Chair Thompson’s Plan Would Cut SNAP Benefits and Ignore Scientific Evidence in Thrifty Food Plan Updates

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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio.  A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.