Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke has asked the Farm Bill conference committee to prevent additional reductions in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program(SNAP), which feeds over forty seven million Americans.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have tried to eliminate $40 billion from the program over the next ten years. Nearly two-thirds of the people who receive SNAP benefits are children, senior citizens, or persons with disabilities.

“The reducing support for SNAP threatens to deny millions of young children, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities access to the basic necessities. Today, there are many children who came to school without breakfast and families that could not afford to buy groceries,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “Already, reductions in SNAP have imposed serious hardships on mothers and fathers who want only to provide adequate nutrition to their children.”

The request to the Farm Bill conference committee was in the form of a letter sponsored by Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson.  This letter was also signed by Congressman John Conyers, Congressman Charles B. Rangel, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, Congressman Adam Smith, Congressman Robert A. Brady, Congressman Gregory W. Meeks, Congresswoman Janice D. Schakowsky, Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo,  Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva, Congresswoman Kathy Castor, Congressman Keith Ellison, Congressman Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr., Congressman Niki Tsongas, Congressman Ted Deutch, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, and Congressman Jared Huffman.