Nearly 1 in 8 Americans, including nearly 900,000 Alabamians, depend on SNAP to help them keep food on the table. And each year, SNAP contributes $1.3 billion to Alabama’s economy, spent in more than 5,000 Alabama stores. Standing in stark contrast to the House Farm Bill, which could terminate or reduce benefits for more than 2 million people, the Senate Farm Bill reauthorizes SNAP, strengthens the program’s operational integrity, and expands existing pilot employment and training programs so that additional states can test promising avenues to work for unemployed and low-wage SNAP participants.

Arise has joined with the Alabama Food Bank Association, the Alabama Rivers Alliance, the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network and Greater Birmingham Ministries to urge U.S. Sens. Doug Jones and Richard Shelby to vote for the 2018 Senate Farm Bill and oppose any harmful amendments that would weaken access to food assistance, clean water or support from sustainable agriculture.