Political Bytes

Donald H. Harrison
July 2, 2020

Click here to read the article as published in San Diego Jewish World.

*Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) is continuing her fight to make the families of military personnel in the lower enlisted ranks eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), even if the financial assistance they receive for housing puts them over the maximum income they may receive to still be eligible for the food program.  She explained: ““Military families go where they are ordered and sometimes that means moving to areas with a higher cost of living. Add to these situations where a spouse might have trouble finding new employment and this becomes a recipe for food insecurity.”  In San Diego County, military families regularly line up at food distributions sponsored by non-profit institutions at such venues as Camp Pendleton and Murphy Canyon Naval Housing.  While the Democratic-majority in the House of Representatives has been supportive of Davis’ legislation, it did not make it into a version of the military appropriations bill under consideration by the Senate.  Liza Lieberman, a spokeswoman for Mazon: The Jewish Response to Hunger told San Diego Jewish World that she is hopeful Davis’s amendment can be placed into the legislation at the time when the House and Senate send their separate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act to a conference committee for reconciliation.