Press Releases & Media Statements

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks, our 12 Feeding America Foodbanks, 3,300 member charities and the 2 million Ohioans we serve commend and thank Senators Brown and Portman for supporting the Senate farm bill and rejecting an amendment that would have taken away food assistance from many Ohioans and imposed burdensome requirements on SNAP participants and our state.

The House farm bill passed today is a betrayal of the longstanding, bipartisan commitment our country has made for decades to ensure all Americans have access to adequate nutrition. Along with the nearly 1.4 million Ohioans who use SNAP to put basic groceries on the table - including children, seniors, working families and people living with disabilities - we turn to the Senate to do better.

Today, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed its version of the Farm Bill on a broad bipartisan basis. We join with a wide array of groups, stakeholders, advocates and community members in applauding the Committee's approach. Unlike the House Farm Bill, this legislation protects SNAP, making responsible investments in program integrity and workforce development without risking access to basic nutrition assistance for vulnerable Americans.

The Farm Bill impacts everything from how our food is grown to who can afford to purchase it. The recently released partisan 2018 House Farm Bill proposal undermines access to basic nutrition assistance for people living on the margins. Instead of maintaining our country's long-term commitment to preventing hunger and ensuring access to basic groceries when our fellow Americans fall on hard times, it kicks older workers and families with children to the curb.

These continued attacks on proven programs that help tens of millions of low-income Americans achieve better health, higher productivity and increased financial stability are shameful. We call on Ohio's congressional delegation to speak loudly and stand firmly against these attempts to punish average American families and widen income inequality in our country.