Sam Schaeffer, CEO of Center for Employment Opportunities, Testifies at House Committee on Agriculture
Schaeffer, accompanied by William Lewis, Urge Congress to Include Two Bipartisan Fixes in the Farm Bill to Protect and Expand Food Security.
CEO Media Contact:
Claire Gross, Sr. Manager Public Relations
[email protected] | (646) 370-8292
Washington, D.C– April 8, 2025– Today, Sam Schaeffer, Chief Executive Officer, and William Lewis, Senior Site Director at Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), testified in front of the House Committee on Agriculture. They urged members to pass a bipartisan, comprehensive farm bill that protects and expands SNAP and SNAP Employment & Training (E&T) by including two bipartisan fixes in the 2025 farm bill reauthorization: Training and Nutrition Stability Act and RESTORE Act. Below is shortened oral testimony from Schaeffer and William Lewis respectively:
Sam Schaeffer:
“Last year, after release, more than 8,000 motivated people chose to walk through a CEO front door in states like Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina. It’s a time of hope and renewal. Yet most people will have difficulty covering the costs of basic needs such as food and shelter. Add on expenses for transportation, new clothes for job interviews, and it’s virtually impossible to achieve long-term stability without some support.
When we provide pathways to employment we improve public safety and add to our economy. Today we ask the Committee to include two bipartisan fixes to strengthen E&T.
The first is the bipartisan Training and Nutrition Stability Act to ensure E&T operates as Congress intended. As people engage in paid E&T, their SNAP benefits quickly shrink and often disappear altogether. This leaves them vulnerable before a full time job begins. There are thousands of people in workforce programs who are at risk of losing SNAP E&T due to the temporary income from the E&T program - an unintended consequence of the 2018 change. The Training and Nutrition Stability Act would fix this.
Second, the bipartisan RESTORE Act would ensure individuals with felony drug convictions are eligible for SNAP and E&T. North Carolina Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform and the Drug Policy Alliance report that removing this ban can break cycles of incarceration. This is supported by CEO’s experience; one former participant Yasmeen relayed that even though she was committed to turning her life around, it was difficult to pursue employment at CEO without SNAP access.”
William Lewis:
“After serving over 20 years in prison, I came home determined and hopeful, but without any clear idea of how to obtain vital necessities like a home, a job, and the chance to start over. Thankfully, with the support of my family, access to SNAP benefits, and the strong Employment and Training program at CEO, I found what I was missing and the path to a great career.
But, because of how the E&T program is currently written, the $64 a day I earned as a participant in CEO's training program required that my SNAP benefits be cut by more than half. Consequently, I was forced to struggle that much more every day to make ends meet and hope that my CEO training and hard work would pay off in the long run. Thankfully, it did.
Nevertheless, what happened to me is not unique. Almost everyone who participates in a paid SNAP E&T training program like CEO's and receiving SNAP benefits will face the same challenge I did. If you remember one thing about our participants, know that if asked they’ll say SNAP and paid training are among the most important tools they have in their reentry journey. It’s hard to name any two programs that, when combined, are a more efficient use of government funds. We thank members of the committee. ”
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About the Center for Employment Opportunities
The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides immediate, effective, and comprehensive employment services exclusively to people recently released from incarceration. CEO currently operates in 30 cities in 12 states and is dedicated to ensuring justice-impacted people have opportunities to achieve socioeconomic mobility. For more information, visit ceoworks.org.
