After months of heated debate, the United States House and Senate have passed a bipartisan farm bill that protects food security programs like SNAP and strengthens nutrition programs like the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive program (FINI).
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President Trump signed the bipartisan piece of legislation into law on Thursday, December 20th.
Over the past year, You’re the Cure advocates made thousands of contacts with members of Congress. Advocates called, emailed, and met with their lawmakers, urging them to protect food security and nutrition programs. In the end, they listened! Thanks to advocates like you, the bill protects access to vital food security programs like SNAP for more than 40 million vulnerable people in the United States.
While the final version of the farm bill does not do enough to improve diet quality, we are pleased that the bill does take several small – but important – first steps in the right direction. In addition to expanding and strengthening FINI, the bill protects SNAP-Ed; expands Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) use; includes a fruit and vegetable prescription pilot; and mandates that the thrifty food plan must be updated every five years. In addition, we are happy that many of the harsh provisions in the original, House of Representatives version were excluded, which would have harmed some of our nation’s most vulnerable, including children, the elderly, the disabled, and even veterans.
The final bill, though far from perfect, is a great building block for future farm bills and policies to improve diet quality. A strong bipartisan farm bill would not have been possible without your help and we are extremely appreciative of your support.
From everyone on the You’re the Cure team we want to THANK YOU for your hard work and dedication to this important cause and wish you and your families a happy and heart healthy holiday season! Thank you again for your efforts and always remember, in the fight against heart disease and stroke, You’re the Cure!
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