[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SNAP-ED HELPS LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to highlight a 
program that helps low-income families lead healthier lives through 
education.
  SNAP-Ed works to help individuals who benefit from the Supplemental 
Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP. It aims to help people make healthy 
choices within a limited budget and choose active lifestyles consistent 
with the current dietary guidelines for Americans.
  As chairman of the Agriculture Committee's Nutrition Subcommittee, we 
have been examining SNAP and how we can improve it in the next farm 
bill. SNAP-Ed is an important part of this, and the results show that 
it works.
  In my home State of Pennsylvania, 17 percent of people are living 
below the poverty line; 1.8 million Pennsylvanians are eligible for 
SNAP; 85 percent of Pennsylvania adults do not eat the recommended 
daily amounts of fruits and vegetables; and 14 percent of 
Pennsylvanians are food insecure, meaning they lack reliable access to 
a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
  Mr. Speaker, SNAP-Ed helps low-income families stretch tight budgets 
and bring home healthy foods from the grocery store. It teaches low-
income families how to prepare nutritious meals.
  SNAP-Ed is a $400 million program awarded through Federal grants to 
State agencies. SNAP-Ed has the flexibility to work in schools, grocery 
stores, parks, even public gyms. SNAP-Ed offers many different forms of 
direct education and takes community input into consideration when 
developing education programs.
  Another food education program authorized through the farm bill is 
the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. This program is an 
approximately $68 million initiative operated through the Cooperative 
Extension Service of land grant universities. It delivers direct 
education via peer educators in a series of interactive hands-on 
lessons to improve four core areas: diet quality and physical activity, 
food resource management, food safety, and food security.
  The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program tends to be less 
flexible in how it delivers services than SNAP-Ed, but it has the 
capacity to reach more people than SNAP-Ed because it operates in more 
areas, both urban and rural, across this country.
  Mr. Speaker, both of these educational programs are helping low-
income families lead healthier lives and make better choices when it 
comes to nutritious food. Through education we can help ensure that 
American families--especially children--learn about the importance of a 
balanced diet as part of a healthy lifestyle and the joy of preparing 
their own meals.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to strengthening these programs in the 
next farm bill so that we can continue to educate and serve American 
families.

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