Florida Religious Leaders Address the "Moral Dimension" of Hunger
Posted September
17, 2012 02:30 am | Public News
Service
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Recent polls show major public opposition to cutting food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). However, local religious leaders in Florida are concerned that some lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are not getting the message.
Michael McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference, is asking Congress to consider the moral dimension to the billions of dollars in cuts lawmakers are now considering making to SNAP over the next 10 years. He predicts those cuts would fall on those least able to handle them.
Links:
•
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
•
Food
Research and Action Center (FRAC)
• FRAC Polling Data
•
Florida Impact
"Hungry kids, poor families, very vulnerable seniors
and people who have not been able to find work, or are
out of work - they are going to be impacted the most,
and they also have the least voice."
Some lawmakers have suggested the cuts can easily be
offset by help from agencies and local religious
institutions, but McCarron says churches are also
feeling the effects of a tough economy.
Debra Susie, executive director of Florida Impact, says
all 6,000 local churches and synagogues would need to
come up with around $50,000 apiece - beyond what they
are already doing to help the hungry each year - in
order to make up for the major cuts being considered in
Congress.
"In Florida, what that would translate to over 10 years
would be a burden of $3 billion created for our churches
and synagogues across the state."
Susie applauds Florida Reps. Alcee Hastings and
Frederica Wilson for signing a House Resolution opposing
the SNAP cuts in the House Agriculture Committee's
version of the Farm Bill.
The latest poll from the Food Research and Action Center
(FRAC) finds 77 percent of Americans feel that cutting
food-assistance programs is the wrong way to go about
reducing government spending.
Links and graphics added by the Observer| Photo: hubimg.com