Arlington, VA (June 21, 2018) – The National Grocers Association (NGA), the national trade association representing the independent supermarket industry, today released the following statement from Greg Ferrara, NGA executive vice president of advocacy, public relations and member services, on the House passage of H.R. 2, Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018:
“Passage of the House Farm Bill was a critical next step in the reauthorization of this important legislation and ensuring that a strong public-private partnership between retailers and the federal government in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is maintained. The voice of the independent grocer was clearly heard through the grassroots efforts of our members as the bill included key priorities, such as the extension of the temporary prohibition of processing fees on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) transactions, the protection of highly sensitive store-level SNAP redemption data, and expansion of the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) program. NGA extends our thanks to U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (TX-11) for his diligent efforts to pass a Farm Bill and we look forward to continuing our work with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow as they move forward with their work on the Farm Bill.”
Top legislative priorities include:
- Protections for private SNAP retailer sales data
- Preservation of consumer choice in SNAP
- Prohibition of any new fees or excessive reporting mandates
- An expanded Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) program
