Washington, D.C. – The National Grocers Association (NGA), the trade association representing the independent supermarket industry, alongside independent community grocers nationwide, sent a letter today to Congress opposing recent efforts within the FY2024 House Agriculture Appropriations bill to restrict SNAP purchases under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The bill includes two provisions that would undermine SNAP:
- One would create a pilot program to catalog and restrict SNAP purchases
- The other would collect SNAP purchasing data with the goal of eventually restricting SNAP purchases
“One of the main reasons SNAP is such an effective program is because of the ease of processing transactions for both retailers and beneficiaries, allowing folks to make the best decisions for their nutritional needs and families,” said Stephanie Johnson, RDN, NGA vice president of government relations. “Independent grocers support SNAP choice because it maintains an already successful program and ensures families can shop with the same dignity and ease as any other grocery customer.”
Nearly 2,500 NGA members from across the country, located in every single Congressional district, signed the letter that was sent to Congress today.
Part of the letter states “The dietary needs of the SNAP population are diverse and no one diet would be appropriate for all participants. For instance, a cancer patient struggling to gain weight doesn’t have the same needs as a child fighting diabetes.”
Click here to view the letter and the full list of signers.
About NGA
Washington, D.C.-based NGA is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale community grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. An independent retailer is a privately owned or controlled food retail company operating a variety of formats. The independent grocery sector is accountable for about 1.2 percent of the nation’s overall economy and is responsible for generating more than $250 billion in sales, 1.1 million jobs, $39 billion in wages and $36 billion in taxes. NGA members include retail and wholesale grocers located in every congressional district across the country, as well as state grocers’ associations, manufacturers and service suppliers. For more information about NGA, visit www.nationalgrocers.org.
