Advocates working to end childhood food insecurity, estimated to impact one in five Maine children, are preparing for President-elect Donald Trump to attack federal food nutrition programs such as SNAP, WIC, and the school meals program.
The United Way reports 44 percent of Maine families are currently struggling to make ends meet.
Food insecurity advocates said many are relying on food pantries to feed their families, even those with Supplemental Food Nutrition Assistance or SNAP.
But welfare programs like SNAP could soon be under threat. President-elect Trump is reportedly considering cutting food stamps and overhauling Medicaid.
At a town hall-style meeting Thursday, advocates said State Direct Certification found that 40,000 Maine kids were eligible for summer Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, or EBT, this year because of their participation in MaineCare.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, collects data on those students.
Full Plates Full Potential Executive Director Justin Strasburger said CEP data on food insecurity ensures the federal government pays its fair share for free school meals.
“That means they should be covering the correct meal cost for all of the free and reduced cost meals. If we’re not able to tell them how many children accurately fall into those categories, the state ends up paying an outsized share of those costs,” Strasburger said.
Strasburger said one estimate of the state burden was $18 million. He said protecting CEP and SNAP is crucial to keep Maine kids fed and advocates are uniting to do so.
Anna Korsen, Policy Director with Full Plates Full Potential said the outgoing Congress is trying to pass a spending bill that would preserve SNAP benefits.
“What we expect with this extension of the Farm Bill that would be included in the spending package is what we have in the farm bill that we have now. No scary riders, no cuts to SNAP. We’ll have the same funding in the Farm Bill for a one-year extension,” Korsen said.
Korsen said they are also urging Maine’s Congressional Delegation to include in the spending package SNAP benefits that have been stolen from Maine clients’ EBT cards using skimming technology.
