If you’ve ever wondered whether public comments sent in to the USDA to oppose proposed SNAP cuts make any difference, then Anore Horton, Executive Director of Hunger Free Vermont, wants you to know: “They make a huge difference.”
Here’s why: By law, the USDA must take into account every public comment that is submitted, a process that can take months if there are hundreds of thousands of them. “That’s what we want,” Horton said. “We want it to take as long as possible.” That’s because one way to stop a proposed rule is to delay it.
Another way to delay is to sue. Once a rule is actually issued, states will then sue to stop it from going into effect. The public comments then become important for the success of the court cases, Horton said.
Public comments are front and center for Horton these days because of the latest USDA proposal related to SNAP, which would change the way states account for household heating and utility costs when determining SNAP benefits. The changes would lead to cuts of $4.5 billion to SNAP over five years, and be acutely felt in Vermont.
The way heating costs are calculated in Vermont mean that the state would be affected more than any other, Horton said. More than two-thirds (68%) of SNAP recipients in Vermont would feel the impact, experiencing an average cut of $82. “That’s a week of food,” Horton said. In addition, 80% of seniors and those with disabilities would be affected.
Horton noted that the state just “clawed its way back” to a level in which one in ten people are food-insecure, right where it was before the recession started in 2008. “If these cuts were to go into effect, we would lose so much ground in terms of the number of people in the state experiencing hunger,” she said.
To fight back, Hunger Free Vermont is directing people to a web page on its site where it provides templates for individuals and organizations to customize a letter opposing the proposal. The page also directly links to the Food Research and Action Center, where the letter can be submitted.
Horton described the impact of the proposed SNAP cuts during an open-to-the-public conference call in which she also briefly touched on 2019 accomplishments (the opening of a nutrition education hub) and 2020 plans (a legislative bill to provide free meals at all Vermont public schools).
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