Millions of low-income children are still waiting for federal food aid

数百万低收入家庭的儿童仍在等待联邦食品援助

音频收听：食品援助

(CNN)Millions of low-income children who can no longer get free meals at school because of the coronavirus crisis have yet to receive additional federal assistance promised to them by Congress.

(CNN)数百万由于冠状病毒危机而无法在学校获得免费食物的低收入儿童还没有得到国会承诺给他们的额外联邦援助。

Lawmakers included several provisions to help needy families obtain more food in their second coronavirus stimulus package that passed weeks ago -- before the historic $2.2 trillion relief package that passed at the end of March.

在3月底通过历史性的2.2万亿美元救助计划之前，议员们在几周前通过的第二轮冠状病毒刺激计划中包括了几项帮助贫困家庭获得更多食物的条款。

The federal Department of Agriculture acted on many of the measures, including making it easier for kids whose schools have closed to pick up meals, providing additional funds to many food stamp recipients and suspending work requirements for certain adults who receive food stamps.

联邦农业部对其中许多措施采取了行动，包括让那些学校停课的孩子更容易取餐，向许多领取食品券的人提供额外资金，以及暂停某些领取食品券的成年人的工作要求。

However, the department only on Thursday approved the first state plan to give low-income families money in place of the meals their children would have received in school for free or a reduced price. This provision, called Pandemic EBT, comes to about $114 a month per child, which is the value of a free breakfast and lunch for five school days a week.

然而，该部门直到周四才批准了第一个计划，为低收入家庭提供资金，以代替他们的孩子在学校的免费或打折食品。这项名为“Pandemic EBT”的政策，每个孩子每月的费用约为114美元，这相当于每周5天的免费早餐和午餐。

"We need to get these benefits to households so that they are not experiencing hunger or food insecurity," said Crystal Fitz Simons, director of school programs at the Food Research & Action Center. "This needs to get moving."

食品研究与行动中心的学校项目主任克里斯托·菲茨西蒙斯说:“我们需要为家庭提供这些福利，这样他们就不会感到饥饿或食物不安全。这需要行动起来。”

22 million children in need

2200万儿童需要帮助

Some 22 million children eat a free or reduced-price lunch at school each day, on average. While districts are trying to provide alternative arrangements, it's only reaching a small percentage of those in need, Fitz Simons said.

平均每天约有2200万儿童在学校吃一顿免费或打折的午餐。菲茨西蒙斯说，虽然各学区正在努力提供替代方案，但只有一小部分有需要的人能收到。

The department is working with states and will start approving their plans this week, Brandon Lipps, deputy under secretary at the USDA, said Wednesday. It announced the next day that Michigan, which has nearly 750,000 kids in the school meals program, received approval.

美国农业部副部长布兰登·利普斯周三表示，农业部正在与各州合作，将于本周开始批准它们的计划。并在第二天宣布，有近75万名儿童参加学校膳食计划的密歇根州获得了批准。

But even once it does, state agencies face multiple challenges in getting the funds to the families, particularly those not already in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps. The hurdles include identifying all the eligible children in these households and broadening state electronic benefits transfer systems to incorporate them.

但即便如此，州政府机构在向这些家庭提供资金方面也面临多重挑战，尤其是那些尚未加入补充营养援助计划(简称SNAP)的家庭。援助计划或SNAP是食品券的正式名称。这些障碍包括确定这些家庭中所有符合条件的儿童，扩大国家电子福利转移系统以将他们纳入。

In Virginia, there are about 600,000 children in the school meals program, about half of whom are in families who aren't enrolled in food stamps, said Duke Storen commissioner of the Department of Social Services. The agency is waiting to hear from the USDA if it can provide the funding first to children already receiving food stamps, which would be fairly easy since their families already have EBT cards, he said.

弗吉尼亚州社会服务部专员杜克·斯库恩说，有大约60万名儿童参加了学校的膳食计划，其中大约一半的儿童所在家庭没有领取食品券。他说，该机构正在等待美国农业部的消息，看它能否先向已经领取食品券的儿童提供资金，这是相当容易的，因为他们的家庭已经有了EBT卡。

But it will be at least three weeks before the state has enough cards for the remaining households. Storen had floated the idea of giving them gift cards to use at grocery stores, but the department rejected it.

但至少要过三周，该州才能为剩余的家庭提供足够的卡。斯库恩曾提出给他们礼品卡在杂货店使用的想法，但是被拒绝了。

He's concerned about the delays to implementing the new program.

他担心新计划的实施会受到拖延。

"Giving households more money to spend at the grocery store is our best policy option to be able to maintain social distancing and prevent people from going hungry," he said.

他说:“让家庭有更多的钱去杂货店购物是我们能够保持社会距离、防止人们挨饿的最佳政策选择。”

Diane Sullivan is hoping to receive her additional funds soon. The mother of two sons in high school, as well as two older daughters, said she needs the money to buy more food.

戴安·沙利文希望尽快收到她的额外救助金。这位有两个上高中的儿子和两个女儿的母亲说，她需要钱来买更多的食物。

"It is going to help me do some stockpiling that I would otherwise not be able to do," said the Medford, Massachusetts, resident who is an anti-hunger advocate. "I won't have to spend my rent on food. And it will keep me and my family safe by not only keeping us fed but keeping me out of the grocery store."

“这将帮助我做一些我本来无法做的储备，”马萨诸塞州梅德福居民、反饥饿倡导者说。“我不用把房租花在食物上。它不仅能让我们有饭吃，还能让我远离杂货店，从而保证我和我的家人的安全。”

More help in the next stimulus package?

下一个经济刺激计划将提供更多帮助?

The second stimulus package, named the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, contained several measures to boost federal nutrition assistance, including allowing states to temporarily increase families' food stamps benefits up to the maximum allowed based on their household size.

第二套经济刺激方案名为《家庭第一冠状病毒应急法案》，其中包含了促进联邦营养援助的几项措施，包括允许各州暂时将家庭的食品券福利提高到根据家庭规模所允许的最高水平。

The USDA plans to distribute $1.7 billion in this additional funding in coming days and weeks, Lipps said.

利普斯说，美国农业部计划在未来几天和几周内发放17亿美元的额外救助金。

Plus, the act allows states to make it easier to sign up for and remain in the program. Enrollment is expected to soar as millions of Americans lose their jobs as businesses shutter their doors amid the pandemic.

此外，该法案允许各州更容易地签署并继续该项目。随着企业在疫情期间关门，数百万美国人失去工作，入学人数预计将大幅上升。

And the act, along with the third stimulus package, funneled $850 million to The Emergency Food Assistance Program, which supplies food banks and pantries, who are seeing a surge in clients.

该法案与第三套经济刺激方案一起，为紧急粮食援助项目提供了8.5亿美元资金，该项目向食品银行和食品储藏室提供食品，这些地方的客户数量正在激增。

More, however, is needed, advocates say. They support House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's call to increase the maximum food stamp benefits by 15% in the upcoming fourth stimulus package. That would add about $25 to each recipient's monthly allotment, on average.

然而，支持者说称，还需要更多。他们支持众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默的呼吁，也就是在即将出台的第四套经济刺激方案中，将食品券的最高福利提高15%。平均而言，这将使每人每月增加约25美元。

Also, Senate Democrats want to raise the minimum monthly benefit to $30, instead of $16, noting that senior citizens and the disabled are the most common recipients.

此外，参议院民主党人希望将每月最低津贴提高到30美元，而不是16美元，并指出老年人和残疾人是最常见的受益者。

Some 37.2 million Americans received food stamps in December, the latest data available. The average monthly household allotment was $256 in fiscal 2018.

最新数据显示，去年12月约有3720万美国人领取了食品券。在2018财年，家庭平均每月分配额为256美元。

It's critical for Congress to boost SNAP benefits at this time, said Lisa Davis, senior vice president at Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign.

“分享我们的力量不要让孩子挨饿”运动的高级副总裁丽莎·戴维斯说:“国会在这个时候增加临时福利是非常重要的。”

"When it comes to helping families weather the economic impacts that the coronavirus has had, SNAP is the first responder," she said. "There is no more important and effective way of getting resources to families to buy food and to stimulate the economy than SNAP."

“在帮助家庭应对冠状病毒带来的经济影响方面，SNAP是第一反应者，”她说。“没有比SNAP更重要、更有效的方式让家庭获得资源来购买食品和刺激经济了。”

原文链接：https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/09/politics/school-children-federal-food-aid-covid-crisis/index.html

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