GROUP BLASTS USDA CHIEF FOR EXACERBATING HUNGER AMID PANDEMIC

President Trump’s appointment of Sonny Perdue to head the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had dire consequences before the pandemic, and these repercussions continue to reverberate today as he tries to gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helped keep more than 3 million people above the supplemental poverty measure in 2018 alone, David Ballard wrote for the Center for American Progress (CAP).

Ballard, the campaign and communications manager for the Poverty to Prosperity Program (PPP) of CAP, said that although SNAP is a crucial lifeline for millions, the benefits grant a meager $1.40 per person per meal, meaning 80 percent of recipients run out of benefits before half of the month is over. Perdue refuses to use SNAP to its fullest potential has made it even more difficult for the poorest Americans to meet their basic needs during this devastating crisis.

“The hunger crisis long predates Perdue’s tenure and the coronavirus pandemic, but his appointment left the USDA particularly unprepared for COVID-19. A multimillionaire, agricultural tycoon, and career politician, Perdue leads a department whose budget dedicates 65 percent of its resources to the poverty-alleviating Food and Nutrition Service, which houses SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC),” Ballard added.

From February to May 2020, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) reported 6 million additional applicants—a 17 percent increase—and as the summer came to a close, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that in July, 12 percent of respondents, including as many as 17 million children, did not have enough to eat. “Over the course of his three years in office, Secretary Perdue has attempted to gut this program even further. As early as 2018, the USDA was attempting to implement cuts via the president’s budget and in the congressional negotiations of the 2018 Farm Bill, a traditionally bipartisan legislative package that determines funding for many programs under the purview of the USDA, including SNAP. Between December 2018 and December 2019, Perdue proposed three rules—able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), broad-based categorical eligibility, and standard utility allowance—that would block access to SNAP, making it more difficult to obtain and administer the crucial benefits. If implemented, they would collectively kick 3.7 million people off the program,” Ballard concluded.

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