MAZON Disappointed with Failure of Leadership on Farm Bill Reauthorization
Abby J. Leibman, President & CEO at MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, today issued the following statement in response to the impending expiration of the Farm Bill:
“With the deadline of September 30 fast approaching, we are dismayed and disappointed to see that the reauthorization process is at a standstill. This represents a gross failure of leadership on the part of House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, who has put partisanship before the needs of his country.
“Who will be hurt most by this delay? The farmers who produce our nation’s food will be doubly impacted—by a trade war that is not of their making, and by the lack of certainty resulting from the needless setback in the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. A further casualty are the millions of food insecure American families who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), who have been vilified and mischaracterized by a small group of Congressional leaders throughout this debate.
“The blame for this missed deadline lays solely at the feet of Mike Conaway, who has eschewed the longstanding bipartisan process of crafting the Farm Bill, and has opted instead for a cruel and stigmatizing exercise that has failed the needs of our country’s food producers and consumers.”