MADISON, Wis. — As the House Agriculture Committee prepares to mark up a new Farm Bill today, Opportunity Wisconsin is calling on Congressman Derrick Van Orden, who is a member of the committee, to support rolling back the SNAP cuts he voted for in the Republican Tax Law. SNAP cuts went into effect at the beginning of March, threatening food assistance for families across Wisconsin.
The Republican Tax Law, which Van Orden voted for, was the largest cut to federal nutrition programs in history. The cuts put roughly 49,000 Wisconsinites at risk of losing some of their SNAP benefits, just to give new tax breaks to billionaires. Just last week, Van Orden refused to take accountability for these cuts when approached by a La Crosse teacher visiting the Capitol.
Today, House Democrats will offer amendments during the Farm Bill markup that would repeal these cuts and restore federal nutrition commitments. Van Orden has a clear opportunity to side with Wisconsin families and to reverse the damage he helped create.
“Congressman Van Orden voted to cut food assistance for Wisconsin families. Now, those cuts are real and they’re making it tougher for tens of thousands of Wisconsin families to put food on the table,” said Meghan Roh, Opportunity Wisconsin Program Director. “Today, Congressman Van Orden has an opportunity to fix this. He must stand with the families in his district who are already feeling the pain of these cuts and vote to restore funding for SNAP.”