December 5, 2005

The Honorable Rick Santorum
United States Senate
511 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington , D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Santorum,

We are writing to thank you for your role in protecting the Food Stamp Program in the Senate Agriculture Committee, and to urge you to continue to oppose food stamp cuts in the budget reconciliation conference agreement.

As community-based organizations engaged in service to low-income families, our staff frequently interacts with individuals who are struggling to maintain stable and nurturing homes despite difficult financial circumstances. We greatly appreciated your October 5, 2005 letter to Senator Chambliss, in which you stated, “(I) believe it is important that these reductions in spending come from programs other than the nutrition programs that serve so many of my constituents.” In fact, more than one million Pennsylvanians buy groceries each month with the partial support of the Food Stamp Program. This enables them to acquire the energy and nutrients they need to meet the other challenges of work, family and community.

Knowing how important the Food Stamp Program is to these households, we are deeply concerned that the cuts proposed by the House would only heighten those difficulties. An estimated 1,400 legal immigrants residing in Pennsylvania would lose eligibility under the House provision that increases the waiting period from five to seven years. An estimated 650 individuals would lose eligibility under the House provision that narrows categorical eligibility. These totals are admittedly not large. Nevertheless, each of these 2000+ individuals need nutrition every day in order to remain healthy and productive. The House approach, while promoted as an efficiency and cost-saving, merely shifts responsibility for these nutritional needs to the charitable sector while ignoring the cost of stress and lost productivity in the lives of affected families.

The USDA recently reported that one in ten households in Pennsylvania is at risk of hunger due to insufficient resources. (These data were collected in December 2004, before the recent spike in home heating bills that will further strain families’ resources this winter.) Thanks to the efforts of many, including Pennsylvania’s charitable food providers, hunger is held at bay in most of these homes. But the scale of the problem is increasing, with the most significant growth among low-wage households with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of poverty. The House cuts to food stamps would further exacerbate this problem.

Again, we greatly appreciate your efforts to protect the Food Stamp Program in the Senate Bill. We are very concerned about what will happen to this bill in the House-Senate conference, however. We therefore ask you to communicate to Chairman Chambliss and other Senate leaders your continued opposition to any food stamp cuts in the final budget reconciliation package . Thank you.

Sincerely,

Berry Friesen
Executive Director

This letter is endorsed by the following organizations.

Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Pat F.E. Temple-West, NDS Director

CADCOM (Norristown)
Rick Beaton, Executive Director/CEO

Central Pennsylvania Food Bank
Kendall Hanna, Executive Director

Congreso de Latinos Unidos (Philadelphia)
Nicholas Torres, President

Greater Berks Food Bank
Peg Bianca, Executive Director

Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger
Karen Wilson, Director

Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
Joyce Rothermel, Executive Director

Health Promotion Council of Southeast PA
Vanessa Briggs, RD, LDN, Exec. Director

Hunger Nutrition Coalition of Bucks County
JoAnn Connelly, Co-Chair

Just Harvest (Pittsburgh)
Joni Rabinowitz , Co-Director

Lutheran Service Society of Western PA
Ann Mason, Interim President & CEO

Nutrition Action Group of Huntingdon County
Deb Kirchhof-Glazier, Coordinator

PA Association of Regional Food Banks
Sheila Christopher, Executive Director

Project S.H.A.R.E. Food Bank (Carlisle)
Elaine Livas, Executive Director

Second Harvest Food Bank of NW PA
Karen Seggi, Executive Director

SHARE Food Program, Inc.
Steveanna Wynn, Executive Director

United Neighborhood Centers (Scranton)
Michael Hanley , Executive Director

Urban League of Pittsburgh
Lee Hipps, Executive Vice President/ COO