When we sent out Thursday's email about Senator Gillibrand's effort to stop deep cuts to the food stamp program, we had no idea that so many veterans who count themselves as VoteVets supporters also found themselves on assistance at some point in their lives.
Your overwhelming response means that it's time our organization take this fight to the next level. We work with members of Congress on a number of issues, and this one is now a priority for us.
So, I am writing a personal letter to the Senate ahead of next week's vote and I'd love it if you added your name to mine as a signatory. The content of letter is below, but you can sign at this link:
http://action.votevets.org/food-assistance-letter
I'll deliver it in person before the vote.
Best,
Jon Soltz
@jonsoltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org
Debbie Stabenow and Thad Cochran
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry
328A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC, 20510
Dear Senators Stabenow and Cochran,
Nearly 1.5 million households with a veteran received food-stamp benefits, through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), in 2011.
Sadly, this also includes far too many members of the military who are on active duty. In that same year, over $100 million in food aid was used on military bases.
Those of us co-signing this letter with the veterans group, VoteVets.org, are no strangers to this tragedy.
We have received food assistance, too.
The benefits under the SNAP program are no hand out. They are simply a bridge to get people through hard times, and ensure their families don't starve. It isn't that much to ask that this program remain funded and available, especially for those who have already sacrificed so much to our nation.
That's why we find it morally abhorrent that the Senate Agriculture Committee approved a $4.1 billion reduction in the food stamp program, as part of the Farm Bill, and that those cuts face a real chance of passing, when the full Senate takes up the bill in the coming days.
It is urgent, for veterans and our troops, that the Senate pass an amendment, offered by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, that stops these cuts and pays for them by cutting subsidies to insurance companies, many of which are based overseas.
There are many on Capitol Hill who claim to support our troops and veterans. Any Senator who votes to literally take food out of the mouths of those who served our nation in uniform, and their families, should think long and hard about whether they can ever make that claim again.
We will be closely watching the vote on this matter.
Sincerely,
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran and Chairman
VoteVets.org
Co-Signed by:
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