GOP Debt Ceiling Bill Will Hurt Families

“Linda” is among the thousands of new people we serve at Mercy Center’s food pantry since the cuts this past February to COVID SNAP benefits, formerly food stamps. She is a hard-working, single mom with four teenagers who, overnight, went from $600 per month in SNAP benefits to just $150 in food assistance. The $450 reduction in benefits, along with the continued high prices of groceries, already makes it impossible for her to purchase enough food to feed her children. Simply put, she must turn to our pantry to make up the difference.

At Mercy Center in Asbury Park, the families we serve are still struggling because of historically high food costs, low wages, and the end of COVID SNAP benefits. It does not surprise us that United Way of Northern Jersey just reported, “37 percent of working families struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic.” The termination of COVID SNAP benefits in February dramatically affected families in Monmouth

County. We see it here on the ground in real life and in heart wrenching real time.

Now, the House of Representatives has passed a debt-ceiling bill that if passed by the Senate, would further limit access to SNAP benefits. The current bill would force additional deeply harmful cuts and will leave more families, children, veterans, and seniors hungry. As a result, even more families will turn to pantries for survival. Enough is enough.

Mercy Center’s food pantry, which served nearly 1,600 people in 2021, was flooded with families the next year, and we saw the number explode to 35,000 in 2022. In just the first quarter of this year, we served more than 20,000 people, putting us on a path to a mind-numbing 80,000 this year. We simply cannot sustain the increase in demand long-term.

House leaders want to expand existing work requirements for SNAP, which would add another layer of red tape for struggling families. Expanding work requirements for SNAP unfairly targets people who work seasonal and unstable jobs, and those with disabilities. At Mercy Center, where I am the Executive Director, we are not interested in the politics of a debt ceiling, we care about the people we serve, and they should not be forced to make the choice between feeding their families and keeping a roof over their heads.

Our pantry line already begins in the early morning hours before we open, five days a week, in all types of weather. Even greater limits - as proposed in the debt ceiling package - on top of the post-COVID cutbacks on SNAP will certainly lengthen that line.

When COVID SNAP enhancements ended in February, Mercy Center’s food pantry felt the pain immediately. We experienced an increase from 5,581 clients in February to 7,221 people in March. That’s a 30 percent jump! We had 596 new pantry users in February, to a whopping 1,711 new people in March. That’s a 187 percent hike. We are bracing for the day when the proposed cuts result in another round of pain for our most vulnerable.

Even worse, we are seeing

Silverton Farms

Saved Itself

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Approximately 785,000 struggling New Jersey residents - children, parents, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, and more - are already hurt by the COVID cuts. SNAP households in Monmouth County – where more than half those struggling are children – lost $190 per month in benefits. This deficit of approximately 1.5 million meals each month cannot be on the back of food pantries like Mercy Center. We are funded solely on donations, and we cannot be substitutes for the enormous loss in food assistance, which will accompany greater SNAP restrictions.

It is important to note the SNAP system was imperfect before the devastating cuts – hygiene products are not included for women and girls, and mothers are not permitted to use the benefits to purchase diapers for their infants and toddlers. Imagine a teenage girl, already behind because of COVID learning gaps, unable to go to school because she cannot afford hygiene products. Money for food will have to come first.

Another pre-existing failure with SNAP that will be exasperated by new limitations is with benefits for seniors. We get calls regularly from seniors in desperation with nothing in their refrigerators or cabinets, telling us they are starving. They routinely lose SNAP benefits as their caregivers are not allowed to use their cards on their behalf, and our seniors have no transportation to get to grocery stores themselves and often, have mobility issues. In fact, Mercy Center started delivering food from our pantry to their homes in response to their cries for help.

House Republicans argue that requiring able-bodied adults without dependents, ages 18 to 55, up from the current requirement for ages 18 to 49, to work or participate in a work training or education program for a least 20 hours per week to receive continuous SNAP benefits would save the nation a “few billion dollars.” Studies have shown such limits on benefits do not increase earnings or employment – they just increase hunger and food insecurity. At Mercy Center, we believe it is harsh, cruel even, to play politics with the well-being of our neighbors in need. It is also counter intuitive and short minded for our politicians to make further cuts to SNAP that fuel local stores, pumping life into New Jersey’s economy. As debt ceiling talks continue, we urge you to contact your local member of Congress and say, “enough is enough.” SNAP is universally recognized as the single-handed most important tool in the fight against hunger. Longer lines at food pantries are not the solution to the political fight over the debt ceiling.

Kim Guadagno Former Lt. Governor Executive Director of Mercy Center

This letter is in response to the March 18 article titled “Township Eyes Land For Open Space.”

The article stated that the township had just preserved 1520 Silverton Road, with a picture of the preservation sign for Silverton Farms. This is a false statement. I, Tom Nivison, preserved Silverton Farms over 20 years ago, long before the current administration was in place. Mayor Hill should get no credit for preserving Silverton Farms, despite his efforts to take that credit by using our address. I don’t believe Mayor Hill has so much as visited or even purchased a vegetable from my farm, though he lives less than 1 mile away in the 30+ years we have been open. We would have graciously welcomed his support had he decided to attend any of the various fundraisers we have hosted over the years of which many supported local causes.

Thank you for your time.

Tom Nivison Toms River Council Candidate

Supreme Court Needs Code Of Ethics

The recent news about Clarence Thomas’s financial entanglements with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow should be alarming to every American. This is what happens when the highest court in the land is given free rein to police itself. Clarence Thomas isn’t the first justice to engage in unethical behavior. And if Congress continues to ignore the need for a Supreme Court code of ethics, he won’t be the last. Of the nine justices currently on the bench, four have been called out for unethical be- havior and connections in the last year. Neil Gorsuch sold property to the head of a law firm with cases in front of the Supreme Court. Samuel Alito dined with anti-abortion activists and allegedly leaked decisions on reproductive health. John Roberts’ wife has earned millions of dollars from law firms with business before the Supreme Court. Congress has a constitutional duty to act as a check on the Supreme Court and restore faith in our judicial system. It’s time they act and pass a Supreme Court code of ethics.

Pamela A. Talbot Toms River