As part
of the Farm Bill reauthorization in the House of Representatives, the
Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding will be substantially
cut. This cut is harmful for Cherokee Nation citizens and will hurt Indian
Country.
In many
homes, food stamps are the only means and access to quality, nutritious foods.
A proposed nearly $40 billion cut in SNAP, which funds our state’s food stamp
program, will have a dire effect on
hundreds of Native families in northeast Oklahoma, harming the health and well-being
of many Cherokee citizens. Nationally, those cuts, coupled with the recession
and the high unemployment rates in heavily concentrated Native communities, could
have a catastrophic impact.
Across Indian Country, 24 percent of Native households
receive SNAP benefits, and 27 percent of Native people live below the poverty
level, nearly double the national rate. Tribal
citizens are more than twice as likely as any other demographic to depend on
SNAP assistance to meet basic food needs to feed their families.
Oklahoma has one of the largest populations of American
Indians, and it is one of the poorest states in the nation. More than half of
Oklahoma counties have an average income at or below the federal poverty level.
Oklahoma’s poverty rate of 17.2 percent is well above the national average and
our child poverty rate is almost 25 percent, and those figures are highest in
communities of color—Native, Hispanic and black homes.
We can and we must do better for all our people. To put it
bluntly, we need an agriculture policy where access to healthy food for our
citizens is part of the equation. We must have a commitment to take care of the
most vulnerable among us: children, elders and those in need.
Cutting
the $40 billion will only drive up health care costs and create real problems
for the generation that follows us. Tribal citizens often face more obstacles
in acquiring an adequate diet than other American citizens.
Educators
nationwide agree that healthy bodies build healthy minds, and people learn
better when properly and adequately fed. It is unacceptable to have our
children and their families denied access to the foods they need to survive and
to succeed. Food insecurity can impact a child’s health and create behavioral
and psychological conditions, which limit a child’s God-given talent. This
assistance, through alleviating hunger, provides our students access to achieve
and become successful citizens and community leaders.
According
to the National Congress of American Indians, the proposed Farm Bill “will allow
states to end SNAP benefits to most adults who are receiving or applying for
SNAP—including parents with children as young as 1 year old—if they are not
working or participating in a work or training program for at least 20 hours
per week despite being in areas with little-to-no employment opportunities.
This would cut off an entire family’s food aid, including their children’s, for
an unlimited time. States are incentivized to invoke this because they can keep
half of the federal savings and cut critical funding for SNAP’s nutrition
education program, which promotes healthy eating choices for low-income households.”
It’s time the federal government upheld its trust
responsibility to American Indians and Alaska Natives. As Indian people, we do not
deserve legislation that will severely cut food assistance to our communities. We
do deserve
a better agriculture policy in Oklahoma, for the Cherokee Nation and for Indian
Country.
