The Senate begins its FY2027 budget debates tomorrow, and Pat Baker and Vicky Negus from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute sent an urgent request to contact your Senators TONIGHT in support of three key anti-hunger budget amendments: 531 (filed by Senator Robyn Kennedy), 532 (filed by Senator Sal DiDomenico), and #702 (filed by Senator Joan Lovely).
Below is the email I just sent Senator Lovely. Feel free to use it for your own letter to your Senator. I personally lifted the final paragraphs of my letter from this letter from the Greater Boston Legal Services, which you are welcome to use instead.
If you use my letter below, please remove my personal anecdotes from the letter or replace them with your own.
Sample Email
Subject: Funding for food security initiatives & the DTA
Dear Senator Lovely,
My mother was the daughter of Italian immigrants and she experienced poverty and hunger as a child growing up in Brooklyn, NYC. As a result, food security initiatives are very important to me.
I am writing to thank you for introducing the Hunger Free Campus Initiative (Budget Amendment #702). I am a first generation college graduate. I had to work multiple jobs while attending college though I thankfully never personally experienced food insecurity. I was horrified to learn that in MA 44% of college students experienced hunger at some point in 2023. I appreciate your leadership on this initiative that will ensure that students get the food aid they need.
I am also writing to ask for your support for Amendment #531 (filed by Senator Kennedy) that would increase funding for DTA by $7M to hire roughly 60 additional caseworkers. This will improve access to SNAP and reduce the error rate in SNAP payments. As the Mass Budget & Policy Center writes in their recent analysis of the proposed Senate Budget: "Failure to reduce the SNAP Payment Error Rate will result in Massachusetts having to assume a larger percentage of the cost of SNAP benefits, potentially requiring the state to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more."
Finally, I ask you to support Amendment #532 (filed by Senator DiDomenico) to raise cash assistance grants 10% to benefit the lowest income households in our state. The Senate Ways & Means Committee's budget proposal would not provide any increase to TAFDC cash assistance grants for families with children or EAEDC grants for older adults and people with disabilities. Under this proposal, the maximum TAFDC benefit for a family of three would be stuck at $861/month, well below the Deep Poverty level (half the federal poverty level). The EAEDC grant for one person would remain only $441/month.
Our lowest-income families, older adults, and people with disabilities urgently need increased cash assistance to survive in our high-cost state. They cannot wait another year, especially in the face of rising costs.
Sen. DiDomenico’s amendment does not add new money to the line items. Because TAFDC and EAEDC caseloads have dropped, the Senate Ways & Means proposed appropriations are enough to cover the increases to cash assistance.
Deep poverty hurts our communities. It causes health and emotional damage, toxic stress, impaired school performance, and homelessness and housing instability.
Please do not forget the needs of our lowest-income households as you debate the FY2027 budget this week. Thank you for your consideration.
Best Regards,
Your Name & Address
Bonus Action
Look up which amendments your Senator has filed by searching for their last name here. Thank them for any amendments that you support. (Conversely, let them know how you feel about any amendments you oppose.)
Here is the list of amendments filed by Senator Lovely.
