Iam so proud to be a part of a school district that is demonstrating the value of its employees by increasing salaries for the important work they do with our students and district. Congratulations to the school board for unanimously approving wage hikes putting every employee over $15 per hour. Thank you to Dr. Schutte and the administration for bringing this to the board and taking this step to provide better wages to employees and acknowledge their value to our school district!

Also this week I found it very difficult to listen to the Iowa Senate debate and vote on the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program bill (SF 494). The bill makes individuals and families provide more information, assigns asset limits and will hurt Iowans who are food insecure. The new requirements could prevent many Iowans from the benefits they deserve.

It was interesting that the debate got into a bit of “what would Jesus do” with quotes from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus refused to send away the large crowd but told his disciples to feed them. The response from one of the Republican senators was more bible verses from St. Paul to the Thessalonians that if a person doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat — charity vs government responsibility.

Vladimir Lenin also used this phrase “He who does not work shall not eat” as a necessary principle under socialism, the preliminary phase of the evolution towards a communist society. The phrase appears in his 1917 work, The State and Revolution. What about people who do work but still do not make enough due to low wages to make ends meet? SNAP benefits go to families and those in need including children.

Several Democratic senators pointed out that we have systems in place to help those to take the burden off of our Christian charity. We should not make the SNAP program harder to access.

Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, District 14 in West Des Moines and the western suburbs, stated how many people were receiving this federally sponsored program in the counties of the majority party members and the benefits to each county each month based on spending grocery money in that county.

In Sen. Jeff Edler’s district, which includes Marshalltown, Marshall County and parts of Story County, approximately 8,028 individuals receive SNAP benefits resulting in a monthly economic impact of $2 million dollars at grocery stores and food outlets in the district according to the Iowa Hunger Coalition SNAP map.

Sen. Edler claimed that the goal of the SNAP program was not for economic gain, but if people are unable to receive the benefits they deserve we surely will see economic loss in our county.

There is not widespread fraud of SNAP benefits in Iowa. This bill will require paying a third party vendor to verify benefits, income levels, work seeking progress and assets to receive the SNAP benefits. The SNAP program is 100% federally funded. Iowa only pays for the administration of the program.

Republican Speaker of the House, Pat Grassley, stated earlier in the year that we need to trim our spending in the SNAP program to free up funding for other priorities. People with food insecurity are not a priority in Iowa?

Kids who go hungry are not part of our Iowa values? Yet, we are giving away millions of dollars in school vouchers money to people to use in private schools with no income requirements, but we are placing barriers in front of those who qualify and deserve this help to feed their families.

Sen. Edler from State Center ran the bill. In his remarks, it is hard to find empathy for those in Iowa who are food insecure or those who are trying to break out of the cycle of poverty. I assume the house will debate this bill next week. I will be a strong no on enacting barriers for those who need the help of the SNAP program.

I can be contacted at Sue.cahill@legis.Iowa.com.

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Sue Cahill, a Democrat from Marshalltown, represents District 52 in the Iowa House of Representatives.