South Jersey Anti-Hunger Groups Meet To Battle Proposed US Anti-Food-Stamps Legislation
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In South Jersey, hunger advocacy groups are fighting back against a Republican proposal in Washington to cut $125 billion from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as "SNAP."
"If these cuts go through we will simply be unable to pick up that slack," says Adele La Tourette, director of the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition. She says the House Budget Committee's attempt to gut SNAP would have a devastating impact on recipients:
"We were getting calls from people saying they were going from 150 dollars a month in SNAP benefits to 15 dollars a month -- crying on the phone, talking about 'How am I gonna make it through?' "
The coalition teamed up with the Food Bank of South Jersey to organize a grassroots meeting today in Camden, urging all those involved with fighting hunger to get involved in the battle now going on in Congress.
"We need a chorus of voices," La Tourette told her colleagues today. "We need an Alleluia Chorus that's talking about the issue of hunger and the impossibility of us dealing with the cuts that they're talking about."
Camden city councilman Frank Moran is introducing a resolution demanding that Congress leave SNAP's budget intact.