Proposed House Budget Would Drive Millions into Hunger and Poverty

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The $6.5 trillion in cuts over 10 years in the proposed 2017 budget by
the House of Representatives will push millions more American working
families and children into hunger and poverty. The spending cuts target
programs that assist poor and working-class families, including the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food
stamps) and Medicaid.

“Budget cuts of this magnitude will have devastating consequences for
working families and their children, potentially pushing millions
further into hunger and poverty,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of
Bread for the World. “Right now, more than 48 million Americans struggle
to put food on the table. If these spending cuts are put into place,
this number will rise dramatically.”

The 2017 budget proposed by the House of Representatives calls for $3.5
billion in cuts over the next 10 years to programs that provide
assistance to poor and working-class families. It also requires
lawmakers to find more than $30 billion in savings over the next two
years. In addition to proposing deep cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, the
House is considering limiting families’ eligibility for the child tax
credit.

The proposed budget would also repeal the Affordable Care Act, and cut
Medicaid by more than $1 trillion over ten years. This would push tens
of millions of people onto the rolls of uninsured Americans. Currently,
one out of three people with chronic medical conditions must choose
between treating these conditions or feeding themselves and their
families.

The spending cuts would also impact overseas poverty-focused
development-assistance programs.

“It has been a long time since our country has made ending hunger and
poverty a national priority,” added Beckmann. “If we want this to
happen, then we must vote people in to office who will do something
about it. We need to have members of Congress who will solve hunger and
poverty, not worsen it for America’s working families and children.”

Bread for the World (www.bread.org)
is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to
end hunger at home and abroad.

Contacts

Bread for the World
Chris Ford, 202-688-1077
cford@bread.org