On a Spring Day in 1961, Mr. and Mrs. Alderson Muncy of Paynesville in McDowell County walked into Henderson’s Supermarket where they used food stamps to buy groceries. Their first purchase was a can of pork and beans which, when added to the rest of their supplies, helped the Muncys feed their 15-person household.
The Muncys were the first recipients of the new food stamp pilot program in the country. That was the fulfillment of a promise made by President John F. Kennedy during his Primary Election campaign in West Virginia where he witnessed firsthand “hardship, despair, personal tragedy, hunger and hopelessness.”
The following year, Kennedy announced a continuation of the pilot program in West Virginia and seven other locations saying, “Low income families are receiving better diets–they have been able to obtain meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs, fruits and vegetables.”
Following Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson requested, and Congress passed, the Food Stamp Act, making the program permanent and available to all states. Today, what is now known as SNAP—the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—provides food benefits to around 42 million low-income people in the United States, including 275,000 individuals in West Virginia. One third of those are children.
It is self-evident that the SNAP program is essential for families here and across the country who are struggling to put food on the table. According to the National Library of Medicine, SNAP is “a highly effective program, vital to our nation’s health and well-being.”
Yet, the program is stalled, a victim of the ongoing budget dispute in Congress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed that SNAP benefits for November will not be paid. President Trump has promised that his administration will find a way to make the payments, but he has not elaborated on how.
Meanwhile, food banks here and across the country are bracing for a surge of people in need. Cynthia Kirkhart, chief executive of Facing Hunger Food Bank in West Virginia, said they are already experiencing a 50 percent increase in demand.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey has stepped up with a plan to help. He announced Tuesday a donation drive with matching state funding of up to $13 million to buy food for the pantries. “I have confidence in the people of West Virginia. I really do,” Morrisey said. “This is our significant commitment, and we’re not going to turn our backs on people.”
Credit Morrisey for advancing a public-private partnership that appeals to the generosity of West Virginians to help out their neighbors during a time of need. However, we should not be in this position in the first place. Congress and the president have failed to perform the most basic of responsibilities of passing a budget, and this is one of the painful results.
There is an African proverb that says, “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.” For weeks now, the politicians in Washington have been trying to push each other around. As a consequence, needy people here and across the country are paying the price.