Lowey Trying To Protect Summer Meal Funding For Families In Need
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A New York congresswoman is fighting to protect a program that helps feed children in need during the summer months.
A spending bill making its way through the House calls for budget cuts to the National School Lunch Program as well as the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children pilot program, which helps families with kids who qualify for free or reduced-price meals during the school year to purchase healthy food during the summer months.
"Their families, who were financially challenged to begin with, are now having to make up those two meals every day," Ellen Lynch, president and chief executive officer of Food Bank for Westchester, told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell.
Funding for the summer EBT program would be slashed from $16 million to $12 million. President Barack Obama requested $67 million.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Westchester/Rockland, plans to introduce an amendment Wednesday to increase the investment in the summer EBT program, although a news release by her office did not specify how much money she is seeking.
"Hunger doesn't stop at the end of the school year," the congresswoman said in the news release. "Students in Westchester who rely on free or reduced price meals are threatened with food insecurity over the summer."
The cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would increase the demand for food at food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens, making it less likely for them to help everyone who is hungry, Lynch said.