NEW HAVEN — Melissa Driffin has a fire inside.
Although she has a college degree and is active in the community, she has been out of work for eight years. It is not for lack of effort, though.
“I’m raring to go,” she said. “There’s a greater work that needs to be done.”
However, because of a past conviction, Driffin has found her opportunities to work have been effectively eliminated.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the American system could make an example of someone like Driffin, who wants better for her 16-year-old child than what she had growing up in the 1980s, and send a message that makes people in poverty feel hopeless.
Driffin was among about a dozen people affiliated with the local chapter of Witnesses to Hunger, as well as a mix of local food policy advocates, who shared their experiences with Murphy for about an hour at CitySeed on Grand Avenue Monday morning. Murphy, who completed a four-day, 70-mile walk across Connecticut the day before to meet with constituents, was present to discuss the Farm Bill that passed in the House of Representatives.
The version first passed by the Senate, he said, “holds nutrition programs steady,” which is “not great news” because of how underfunded and strict welfare programs are already.
“I’m not jumping for joy over the Senate bill,” he said, although there were some measures he approves of, such as cutting down on re-enrollments. The House bill, however, he described as draconian. In total, the proposed work requirements would mean an estimated 2 million people would lose eligibility for food stamps in the nation.
“It belies common sense, is punitive, cruel and inhumane,” he said. The exceptions — which exist for people who are fully disabled or raising a child under 6 — are “ridiculous,” he said. Additionally, those who are out of work for a period of time longer than 90 days can lose their right to benefits for more than a year.
The “ specter of punishment” doesn’t work, he said, as mostly everybody wants to work, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program benefits do not extend very far nutritionally.
Murphy said the fight ahead is “a big one,” and the Connecticut delegation does not intend on negotiating.
“The place in the middle between the Senate bill and the House bill is not good,” he said. “It costs more money to intentionally make millions of people hungry.”
The work requirements, he said, are intended to “trap people in poverty,” as the more people work, the more they may see their benefits reduced, although the minimum wage “is still not a livable wage.” Additionally, many Americans are underemployed, as more jobs are temporary and deliberately kept under 20 hours to avoid additionally costs to employers.
Amelia Reese Masterson, CEO and executive director of CitySeed, cited a New Haven Food Policy Council statistic that about 22 percent of city residents experience food insecurity, meaning they do not have consistent, reliable access to a necessary amount of nutritious food for reasons ranging from income to geography.
Reese Masterson pointed to CitySeed’s incentive program where SNAP benefits are doubled for the first $10 at any farmers’ market as an essential program. About 23,000 people spend SNAP benefits at the markets, she said.
“It shows a desire for fresh, local produce,” she said.
End Hunger Connecticut! Executive Director Shannon Yearwood also mentioned that one measure in the House’s version of the bill, which un-links eligibility for SNAP benefits and benefits to youth who are eligible for free and reduced-priced lunch in schools from other programs for low-income people, can be devastating for thousands of Connecticut children.
Without this “categorical eligibility,” children whose families cannot or do not complete paperwork, including children of low-income undocumented families who are scared away from filing such paperwork, will likely begin missing meals at school: “A sneak attack on kids,” Yearwood said. New Haven Public Schools gives all students free lunch.
State Rep. Pat Dillon, D-New Haven, concurred with Yearwood, saying work requirements would create more administrative costs and paperwork to have municipalities confirming whether people receiving benefits are meeting work requirements.
“At the town level, I want to put money into New Haven to reduce the tax burden,” she said. In May, the Board of Alders approved a budget with an 11 percent tax increase.
Mark Griffin, a community activist, also warned that if people are dropped from their benefits, crime will increase as people become increasingly desperate.
Murphy said there is a bitter irony in President Donald Trump boasting about lifting regulations from businesses while ignoring the amount of regulations and restrictions he has placed on the poor and services the help people.
The Republican-backed tax bill that passed late last year which offers tax cuts to the wealthy, Murphy said, will lead to more money ending up in “Swiss bank accounts” and offshore holding companies rather than back in communities. He said it’s a disappointment that “the most powerful, most affluent nation in the world” has children who go to bed hungry.
Kim Hart, a local food policy activist, asked Murphy what can be done.
“This is our lives. We are impacted by the issue,” she said. “When you’re hungry, you can’t do anything.”
She said people in New Haven are calling their representatives and organizing rallies, but she wanted to know what more can be done.
“You’re doing the right thing,” Murphy said, saying Connecticut food policy advocates had “made a lot of noise in the last week.”
by Brian Zahn