It’s election season, and that means we’re hearing politicians talk about “kitchen table issues” to convince us they’re the best choice to represent us in Washington, D.C.

The candidates vying for your vote in November should remember the most basic of “kitchen table” issues: access to food.

As families throughout the state continue to struggle with high grocery prices and food insecurity, we at the Michigan League for Public Policy urge Congress to protect benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Unfortunately, partisan gridlock has stalled reauthorization of the Farm Bill, the legislation that covers SNAP.

Currently, Congress is considering two options: a proposal approved by the House Agriculture Committee earlier this year that would slash future food assistance benefits for Michiganders by $970 million over the next decade, or a plan from outgoing Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow that would ensure SNAP benefits keep up with the latest nutrition science and the economic and logistical realities of American families.

The results of November’s election will influence what path the Farm Bill ultimately takes. Extremist conservatives have identified SNAP as a prime target in Project 2025, the anti-family agenda they’re counting on their preferred candidate to implement.

Such threats couldn’t come at a worse time.

Food assistance is critical to Michiganders: About one in four kids receives SNAP, and caseloads remain high in Northeast Michigan — in Montmorency and Presque Isle counties, more than 20% above pre-coronavirus-pandemic levels.

Households in our state are still facing hardship when it comes to basic needs.

Local food banks are admirably doing their best to meet month-over-month increases in community need, but they can’t fill the gap alone. As the nation’s largest nutrition program, SNAP provides families with nine times as many meals as our local food banks do.

More than 460,000 workers in our state use SNAP to put food on the table. Some of the most common occupations in Michigan, such as home health and personal care aides and jobs in food service, manufacturing, and retail, don’t pay enough to support a family.

Much of the expected job growth in coming years is among those low-wage but essential occupations. With wages failing to keep pace with the costs of living, it’s critical to keep our safety net programs like SNAP strong and accessible to people trying to make ends meet.

While taking away SNAP benefits, Project 2025 would make it even harder to afford food by raising taxes for families with low and middle incomes, increasing health insurance premiums,

slashing Medicaid, excluding millions of workers from overtime pay, restricting our ability to control the size of our families, promoting hostility to women’s earning power, and diverting funds from cash assistance for basic needs to dubious social engineering programs.

This November election is pivotal in answering the question: What kind of nation do we want to be?

Do we want to continue to stand out among our G7 peers for hunger among our citizenry? Do we want to continue accepting the high health toll of food insecurity on our children’s futures?

Or do we want to make sure our kids have what they need to do their best in school and become part of a healthy, vibrant workforce?

Food is so much more than mere fuel for our bodies. It brings us together as families, neighbors, and communities.

To keep our families and communities strong, the people we send to Washington to act on our behalf must ensure that every family’s kitchen table has its fair share of the national abundance we’ve all had a hand in producing.

Julie Cassidy is senior policy analyst at the Michigan League for Public Policy.