JUNE, 2025: MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN? IT SEEMS IT'S ALL A PRETENSE
I’m beginning to think that the plan is to confuse. You know the old saying about ‘talking out of two sides of your mouth”? Well, that’s what the government seems to be doing. MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) says we need to eat more farm-fresh food - while MAGA (Make America Great Again) cuts the money allocated for farms to schools. MAHA says we need to stop eating ultra processed foods (which are cheaper) but MAGA plans to cut SNAP (food stamp) allowances. MAHA wants us to be healthier – while MAGA cuts Medicaid, and it looks as if Medicare has some cuts as well. It’s hard to keep up. And I think that’s the plan. How do we rise up if we can’t quite describe all the issues in “one big beautiful” complaint?
As Heather Cox Richardson wrote: “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the (Congressional budget) bill cuts at least $715 billion in healthcare spending, mostly from Medicaid, and $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, causing more than 2.7 million American households to lose benefits. Because the massive debt increase in the measure triggers a 2010 law requiring offsets, it will cut Medicare, as well, by an estimated $500 billion".
Economist Robert Reich points out that Americans making between about $17,000 and $51,000 will lose about $700 a year. On average, Americans with incomes of less than $17,000 will lose more than $1,000 a year. But if you are among the top 0.1% of earners, you’re in luck: you’ll gain nearly $390,000 a year.”
Healthy eating has just become more difficult thanks to cuts to local food purchases, SNAP, Medicaid and Medicare, and I'm not even including cuts to scientific and nutritional research. One thing is clear: as federal funding for food is cut, the need to increase help on the local level becomes even more vital.
CUTS TO GOVERNMENT FOOD WITHIN THE UNITED STATES (thus far)
So far more than one billion dollars has been cut from the USDA’s food access initiatives (not including staff firings).
CUT: The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA). This $500 million program provided state, tribal and territorial governments the funding to purchase foods locally produced within the state or within 400 miles of the delivery destination, helping to support regional and underserved farms. Much of these foods went to food banks and schools. As Civil Eats reports:
The head of Mountaineer Food Bank in West Virginia said that 40% of the cheese, eggs, and milk they were expecting have been canceled.
About 32 truckloads of food (600,000 pounds) for Feeding America West Michigan have been canceled by USDA.
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank said it discovered on Tuesday that 553,000 pounds of food it was expecting have been canceled.
Rising inflation has made everything worse. The cost of eggs and other basic foods has continued to rise. Pantry lines across the country are as high or higher than during COVID.
CUT: The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a core nutrition program that purchased $500 million worth of U.S. commodities for emergency food providers that help households obtain sufficient nutrition.
CUT: The Local Food for Schools (LFS) program that was set to start this year, funding $660 million for states to purchase local food over the next three years solely from farmers, ranchers, and small businesses, for distribution to schools and childcare centers. While states had flexibility in program design, the funds could not be spent on administration costs, only food.
The President of the American Farm Bureau Federation stated in FoodFix: “It is deeply troubling for the White House to endorse a report that sows seeds of doubt and fear about our food system and farming practices ….” noting that farmers were “excluded from development of the report, despite many requests for a seat at the table.”
ABOUT TO BE CUT: SNAP (Food Stamps). The House just passed a bill that will cut SNAP by $300 billion. Although we don’t know the final tally (it will go back and forth between the Senate and House until Congress passes it), it means that each of the States must find the additional money the Feds are no longer offering, and many, many people will lose SNAP. It’s true that SNAP is the most expensive part of the Farm Bill. But it supports local economies including farms and grocery stores as well as giving people living in poverty a chance to improve the quality of food they feed their families – something MAHA should care about. And let’s be clear – each person does not receive a lot of money - the average SNAP payment is $6.00 per day. And it doesn’t matter if you live in rural Mississippi or New York City – the allocations are based on the same poverty threshold. So how will SNAP be cut? Possibly by pushing a lot more of the costs to the States (which can’t afford it, therefore causing an automatic cut in services), increasing the age for single people’s work requirements, and possibly cancelling the last increase in SNAP benefits (already SNAP is built on the most stringent of the 4 dietary plans the USDA offers. If you are going through a divorce, for example, the judge considers food costs at a higher rate than SNAP).
Everyone deserves to eat healthy, fresh and culturally appropriate foods. And no-one in the United States (much less anywhere else in the world) should go hungry. Hunger is about poverty. You pay for food and then you don’t have all the money you need for rent. A mother misses a meal each day, so her children won’t miss any. People buy inexpensive ultra pasteurized food because they don’t have the additional money required to buy healthier and fresher food.
MEALS FOR GOOD: In the face of this adversity, we try to rise. Meals For Good has tripled its outreach, not only fostering initiatives in 5 different neighborhoods in New York City but beginning the work to help non-profits across the country adopt similar voucher systems. This is about all of us coming together, sticking together, learning together on how best to reach people in need. Many of us are finding our best selves amidst the horrific struggles so many people are facing.
Meals For Good vouchers are real money, giving people the agency and the respect to buy their own food. Vouchers also help the local economy by working with independent grocery stores in these neighborhoods.
Vouchers work everywhere. Our goal is twofold: to keep increasing our bandwidth in New York City while helping other non-profits across the country start voucher programs in their own communities.