Texas House Democrats Form Committee On Hunger Crisis
When the right chooses cruelty, the left organizes care.
The thing that radicalized me was understanding what it means to raise a child in this country without enough. When I was younger, I lived through the reality of choosing between the light bill and groceries. Millions still do. Being part of the working poor in America can be traumatic on its own.
The unfortunate reality for those of us who have only lived in a post-Reaganomics world is that struggle has been normalized. We’ve been taught to believe that hunger is a personal failure rather than a political choice.
The callousness we’ve seen from the right, pertaining to hungry people in America. Take, for example, US Senator Tommy Tuberville from Alabama.
Tuberville fixed his mouth to say that it was Democratic constituents in inner cities who would need SNAP to survive.
About 15% of Alabamians are on SNAP, or 1 in 7 people. It’s one of the highest states with food insecurity. Texas isn’t far behind with 11.4% of the population.
But that’s the thing, this dumbass hillbilly is repeating the “welfare queen” myth on Fox News, and he doesn’t even give two shits that he’s hurting his constituents the most, just pure propaganda. I heard someone speculate that it was possible that Republicans didn’t know the difference between SNAP and food stamps, the same way they don’t see the difference between Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act, which is why the Republican base isn’t all in a stink.
86% of all SNAP benefits go to households that include a child, elderly person, or person with disabilities
92% of all SNAP benefits go to households with income at or below the federal poverty line
SNAP recipients by race:
37% White
26% Black
16% Hispanic
3% Asian
Under international law, food is a human right, recognized under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. But the United States of America has never had a good record on human rights, especially not under Republican administrations.
Forty-two million Americans are going to lose their SNAP benefits for no reason. The USDA has a $5 billion emergency reserve to keep benefits from running out. It isn’t a matter of whether the money is there. It is.
The Trump administration ordered the USDA to stop funding SNAP and WIC to blackmail the Democrats in DC to cut healthcare for millions of Americans.
The decision to withhold it is political.
That’s why Texas House Democrats announced the formation of an Emergency Committee on the Texas Hunger Crisis this week.
Rep. Armando Walle and Rep. Toni Rose will lead this committee. While Republicans in DC play games with food assistance, Texas Democrats are (once again) preparing to protect families who would otherwise be left with nothing.
Rep. Walle said:
“Half of all SNAP participants in our state are children under 18. We refuse to let Texas kids go hungry.”
This is what leadership looks like.
I think it absolutely needs to be noted that Governor Greg Abbott has blamed Democrats in DC and said nothing else, or made no executive actions to help 3.4 million Texans about to lose access to food.
Other red states, like Louisiana and Virginia, have announced states of emergency and are funding SNAP benefits for a short time. Governor Stitt in Oklahoma (another red state) was discussing deploying its National Guard to help with food distribution.
Abbott has been crickets.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus is supposed to send a letter to Abbott this week demanding that he declare a state of emergency, as the red states have done. But the truth is, Abbott won’t do anything for anyone who doesn’t donate at least $1 million to his campaign.
Texas House Democrats didn’t form this because it’s election season or because it polls well. They formed it because the Texas Health and Human Services Commission has already begun notifying families that their SNAP benefits will be cut off in November if the federal shutdown continues past October 31st. That means $614 million of food assistance, gone. Overnight. For 3.4 million Texans.
And half of those Texans are children.
So Rep. Armando Walle and Rep. Toni Rose said, basically, “We’re not letting our kids starve while Republicans argue on cable news.”
They put together a 15-member statewide committee to:
Investigate the real-time impact on families
Develop emergency measures to prevent hunger
Coordinate response networks, community-by-community
Demand action from Abbott, who has done nothing
Forward movement.
Organization.
Responsibility.
And I need to state the obvious because nobody on TV will.
There are no Republicans on this committee.
Not a single one.
Why? If I had to guess, I would put money on Democrats inviting them to that committee, or even asking Speaker Dustin Burrows to make a formal House Committee, but they refused.
Republicans don’t want to be seen as admitting hunger is real. If your entire political identity is based on the lie that poverty is a personal failure, you can’t sit on a committee that proves otherwise. And the minute Republicans acknowledge this crisis exists, the follow-up question becomes, “Why isn’t Abbott doing anything?”
The modern GOP is allergic to empathy. Even acknowledging need is treated as weakness. And if their donors aren’t hungry, then it’s not a crisis.
So Democrats are doing what Democrats always end up doing in this state. Cleaning up the mess while Republicans pose for Fox News interviews about “fiscal responsibility.”
Republican fiscal responsibility, lol.
Walmart will lose $2 billion from SNAP going dark.
Half of all SNAP recipients shop at Kroger.
Of course, over 14,000 Walmart workers are on SNAP, so there is a larger conversation to be had here about predatory capitalism and how it’s being used as a subsidy to keep the low-wage business model afloat. But that’s a conversation for another day.
Meanwhile, other red states, like Louisiana, Virginia, and Oklahoma, have already acted.
Abbott? Silent.
Because helping people has never been part of his political identity.
Only punishing them is.
And here’s the truth we need to say out loud.
This committee shouldn’t just exist during emergencies.
Texas has one of the highest rates of hunger and food insecurity in the country, every year, not just during shutdowns. Food banks are tapped year-round. Mutual aid groups keep whole neighborhoods alive. This is a structural crisis. A permanent one.
So when we flip the state, this committee should become permanent.
A standing committee on hunger, poverty, and economic dignity.
Because feeding people is not a side issue.
It is the foundation of public health, education, and economic stability.
It is the baseline of a functioning state.
Food is a human right.
And Texas Democrats are, once again, the only people in power acting like it.
So while the politicians play games with human survival, we take care of each other.
We always have. That’s how working-class people have stayed alive in this country for generations, because we showed up for one another.
So please check on your friends. Check on your neighbors. Ask the people in your group chats how they’re doing. If you’re not okay, say so. There is no shame in needing help. There is only shame in a system that forces people to suffer in silence.
I’ve been seeing the mutual aid networks already wake up, food drives popping up everywhere, churches, mosques, and synagogues setting up meal programs, mom-and-pop restaurants feeding families with nothing more than a SNAP card and an ID because they refuse to let kids go hungry. I’ve seen folks share how you can play the McDonald’s Monopoly game online without purchase up to five times a day and get free food. I’ve seen The Satanic Temple (yes, them) loudly organizing food distribution and meal support because they believe feeding the hungry is a moral duty. Find the one closest to you if you need help or want to help.
None of us should have to do any of this.
But until our government remembers that food is a human right, we take care of one another.
If you have a little extra right now, share it.
If you need help, ask.
And when we flip this state, we’re building something that doesn’t demand survival as endurance.
We’re building a Texas where everyone eats.
Because we deserve that.
Because we’re going to make it happen ourselves.
November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election
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All Democratic Clubs and Party functions should ask all attendees to bring food for a food bank.
It is downright sickening how much spin and propaganda I've seen about the cutting of SNAP benefits the past couple weeks - right wingers are trying to claim that the majority of SNAP recipients are illegal immigrants - as if immigrants deserve to starve, as if undocumented people are even able to apply for SNAP - and truly evil heartless people responding to mothers worried about feeding their kids with "get a job" ignoring that those mothers are already working 80 hour weeks in a system that refuses to pay them enough to support their families. The right craves suffering, misery, and death.