AN OPEN LETTER TO RANDY HULTGREN: “Try living on $5 a day.”

Dear Congressman Hultgren,

Do you know what and when your next meal will be?

While I’m sure you’ve had to give very  little thought to this matter, that isn’t the case for the 47 million Americans who got a reduction in their food stamp assistance on November 1.  These are individuals, a majority of whom are employed, families with children, the elderly, veterans and people with disabilities who rely on food stamps for their daily bread.  

Imagine what it would be like to have three meals a day on a budget of only $5.00 (the estimated daily amount a food stamp recipient has to spend.)   A cut of $36 a month in food stamps for a family of four probably sounds insignificant to you, but to these families in need it means several meals. 

Mr. Hultgren,  your support of cutting funding for food stamps in the Farm Bill is appalling. Even deeper cuts to the food stamp program are currently being proposed by Republicans in Congress. We are the richest country in the world, our farmers produce an abundance of food and yet there is hunger in America.  People in your Congressional district, in our towns and cities, are in need of food assistance. At a time when unemployment in the 14th Congressional district still hovers near 9%, the need for food stamp assistance is greater than ever.

There is growing income inequality in this country, the result of policies that favor the wealthy, cater to the wishes of big business to the detriment of working middle class and poor Americans.  The middle class and the poor have become expendable commodities in our global economy.  Trade agreements have decimated the manufacturing segment of our economy, resulting in the loss of millions of jobs.  Wage stagnation has occurred as more and more jobs are outsourced to countries with lower pay scales.  Unions, once the backbone of middle class jobs, have been demonized and weakened and are losing the right of collective bargaining.

As the rich get richer, their power and influence over our elected officials has grown exponentially and they are more able to have laws and policies enacted that favor their interests.  The voices and influence of the middle class and poor are going unheard. 

The United States of America, a country built on Judeo-Christian values, needs to live up its’ beliefs that a civil society must maintain a basic floor of decency for its’ citizens.  

Congressman Hultgren -- as a voter in your District, I am asking you to please reinstate the much needed funding for the food assistance program.