Yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced which members will serve on the Farm Bill Conference Committee. Four California Representatives were chosen to participate in negotiations to reconcile the starkly divergent Farm Bills passed by the Senate and House earlier this summer.
The California Representatives selected to serve on the Conference Committee are:
- Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Modesto)
- Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton)
- Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno)
- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles)
As negotiations proceed, CFPA and our anti-hunger partners urge Conference committee members to use the Senate bill’s SNAP measures as the basis for any final bill and reject the House’s misguided provisions. Conferees should agree to strengthen and support SNAP and reject any proposals that would cut or weaken this vital program in the final Farm Bill conference report. We call on our California conferees to speak out in opposition to the House bill’s draconian and partisan approach, which would take food off the table of over 2 million people, increase hunger and hardship, and exacerbate our nation’s already alarming state of income inequality.
Read the letter to farm bill Conference Committee Leadership from CFPA, the California Association of Food Banks, and Western Center on Law & Poverty calling on our California conferees to embrace the Senate’s bi-partisan approach in their final conference report and reauthorize critical food, farming and nutrition programs while safeguarding our most vulnerable communities from hunger.
Learn more and join the fight to protect SNAP/CalFresh!
You can learn more about how the Senate bill makes modest changes to SNAP while protecting benefits for recipients by reading this detailed analysis from the Center on Budget and Policies Priorities.
Learn more about the House Farm Bill’s harmful and ill-conceived proposals to cut SNAP/CalFresh by instituting counterproductive and unproven work requirements, eliminating state options that support working families, and cut food assistance for low-income households that need support paying their home heating and cooling costs.
CalFresh helps alleviate hunger and poverty in every California congressional district. Learn more about the importance of protecting and strengthening CalFresh in the Farm Bill by viewing and sharing CFPA’s Farm Bill and CalFresh Congressional District Fact Sheets.
Stay up to date on the Farm Bill and receive timely calls to action by signing up for our Federal Advocacy/Farm Bill email alerts.
Questions? Contact: Jared Call at 213.482.8200 ext 201
