Brooklyn, N.Y. – Representative Yvette D. Clarke denounced reports that Republicans in the House of Representatives intend to reduce food assistance for families and children by $40 billion.

Almost fifty million Americans depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (referred to as SNAP). Nearly two-thirds of the people who receive SNAP benefits are children, senior citizens, or person with disabilities.

“These proposed reductions in SNAP will undermine the security of millions of American families who depend on the program to eat,” said Representative Clarke. “It’s a bread-and-butter issue for the boys and girls, the grandmothers and grandfathers, who could not otherwise afford to eat.”

Economists believe that SNAP constitutes an especially useful form of spending, because people enrolled in the program spend their benefits quickly, providing critical stimulus to our economy. Representative Clarke continued: “We cannot abandon our responsibility to the many children and senior citizens who depend on SNAP. Instead, we should affirm our dedication to a society in which every person has enough to eat.”

SNAP benefits are scheduled to be reduced by an average of $29 per month, starting in November 2013, as a result of a previously enacted law that reduced funding for SNAP to pay for the school lunch program.  In New York State, average SNAP benefits amount to $147 each month, less than $5 for food every day.

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.