Letters: SNAP is crucial for so many families to avoid food insecurity. Congress needs to keep it strong.

In Spanish, we have a word, “hambreada,” which means to be in a state of constant hunger.

This feeling is one I know all too well as a child of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Hunger and poor access to nutritious food rob hundreds of thousands of children right here in Illinois from experiencing their childhood to the fullest. As a child, the days I was hungry versus the days I knew we would have a consistent meal affected how I showed up for school, how I behaved at home and if I participated in the neighborhood baseball league.

I’m a daughter of immigrants and come from a home that suffered from food insecurity. I witnessed domestic and community violence throughout my childhood. In my community, SNAP was and continues to be a guiding light, offering a sense of peace, security and, at times, the only source of stability we could rely on.

With these experiences in mind, I recently joined fellow American Heart Association advocates and volunteers in Washington to share our stories with members of Congress and urge them to keep SNAP funding strong in the 2023 Farm Bill.

For more than 50 years, SNAP has played a crucial role in addressing hunger and poverty, but in its current form, it does not address nutrition security. We must build upon this success by investing in ways to improve access to healthy food and the nutritional quality of food.

In my previous role at a legal clinic that supports domestic violence survivors, I heard over and over: “I cannot leave my relationship even though my life is on the line because I don’t know how I will feed my children.” Cutting SNAP could increase instability and adverse childhood experiences and put those at risk of violence in further danger by not providing a way out. Cutting SNAP would be undercutting humanity.

Having access to food through SNAP changed the trajectory of my life. It’s the reason why I graduated. It’s the reason I was able to be successful. And it’s the reason I can now be an advocate for other families in my community experiencing some of the same challenges that I did.

By keeping SNAP strong, Congress would be providing a lifeline to millions of families just like mine.

— Jocelyn Vega, Chicago

Bipartisan immigration reform

As long as Republicans gain politically from disparaging Biden administration efforts to manage the migrant influx, which includes many who are legally seeking asylum, they have no incentive to work in a bipartisan way on comprehensive immigration reform. As a result, Chicago is forced to deal with thousands of immigrants shipped here arbitrarily.

Efforts to help resettle them are hindered, if not blocked, by a lack of affordable housing in the area. Not-for-profits and individual volunteers are doing an amazing job, but it’s no substitute for coordinated and compassionate governmental action.

— Mary F. Warren, Wheaton

Obstructing third-party bid

I think most people would agree that all eligible voters should be given reasonable access to participate in our elections. The Associated Press article in the Tribune (“Democrat returns in No Labels’ 3rd-party bid,” Aug. 2) about the efforts by the Democratic Party to prevent a third party, No Labels, from securing ballot access in key states for the 2024 election is nothing short of obstructing the democratic voter process.

The Democratic Party has been very vocal about expanding voter access and opposing moves by Republicans to restrict access. By limiting voters’ choice of a third party, the Democrats are showing that it’s not voter access they are protecting but their political power!

I am livid that two Democratic groups mentioned in the article “hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions.”

This is blatantly obstructing Americans’ right to access the democratic process. This is not democracy.

— Jan St. John, Bourbonnais, Illinois

What about Biden’s ‘antics’?

In the July 30 “Voice of the People,” letter writer Charles Wilt fails to mention President Joe Biden when he talks about things “getting weirder and weirder” in our country and the world (“It gets weirder and weirder”). Recent news has produced more evidence of Biden lying to the American people regarding involvement in his son’s business affairs. Wilt mentions Trump’s “antics” and the press coverage Trump is getting, yet fails to point out the silence about Biden’s “antics” and the press coverage he is not getting. Weird.

Also weird is the fact that Biden’s son Hunter was offered a deal (now off the table thanks to a judge who was not onboard with it) to avoid charges for felony gun possession.

— David Bohac, Willow Springs

We have bigger problems

I play a game with my granddog, Penny, when she gets into trouble at my house. I yell, “Squirrel!” and she darts to the window, scanning the yard for her archenemy and forgetting the dirty business she was engaged in.

Congress seems to be playing that same game with us. While we wait for lawmakers to solve the many problems on their plate to better our world, they yell, “UFO!” (Or now, “UAP!”) to distract us from their inability to agree on anything substantive. Clarence Page, in his July 30 column (“Can Congress pry our government’s UFO ‘X-Files’ open?”), seems to see some hope in that — they at least are agreeing on something. Yes, but I refuse to be duped like Penny.

Get back to work on things that really matter, Congress! Quit throwing us a bone!

Chicago Tribune Opinion

Weekdays

Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team.

— Pam Skinner, Palatine

Preserving the rainforest

I am so tired of one party blaming the Republicans for climate change. It is a world problem.

I am a baby boomer. When I was in middle school, we were taught that the rainforest kept the earth cool. Over the years, millions of acres of trees have been cut from the rainforest to promote farming. Has anyone addressed that problem?

Offer the farmers an alternative type of living rather than destroy the rainforest. That would go a long way in stemming the warming of the planet. Maybe they don’t teach geography anymore and the importance of the rainforest in today’s schools. There are too many alternative subjects that teachers seem to feel are more important.

— Marlene Krein, Spring Grove

Join the conversation in our Letters to the Editor Facebook group.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.