Montana News

Tester promises to advocate for food stamps at Missoula visit

Posted: Feb 18, 2013 8:27 PM by Cristy Aranguiz - MTN News

MISSOULA - U.S. Sen. Jon Tester stopped by the Montana Food Bank in Missoula Monday for a quick tour and meeting.

Before touring the facility, he visited with several staff members who highlighted the importance of government funding to the Food Bank. Part of the discussion was about the looming financial sequester, which is scheduled to go into effect March 1.

Several critical programs would be cut or reduced, like the SNAP food program, and that could leave many in Montana hungry.
Tester is exploring ways to keep that from happening.

"We're gonna be dealing with issues that deal with the SNAP program and numerous other programs that help feed people who are hungry and do not have access to food. These programs are important because we're going to be dealing with them so I wanted to see here on the ground in Montana what the demand was, what the need is."

Tester said food banks will be greatly impacted if the sequester goes through because current programs will not get future funding.