Tag: SNAP

‘Merry Christmas, Losers’: Trump Cuts Food Assistance To Poorest

In a pre-Christmas assault on the poorest Americans, the Trump administration has finalized the first of several planned regulatory slashes that will tear food from the mouths of 4 million who depend on the food stamp and school lunch programs for their basic nutrition.

Hardest hit by the $10 billion package of cuts will be children, seniors, people with disabilities and members of low-paid working families, said Feeding America, a nationwide network of food pantries that provides billions of free meals.

“How the hell can he do that when people are hungry?” asked Alan Schweidel, a feisty New York cabbie. “Trump claims to be a good Christian, but he would probably call Christ a socialist for caring about poor and hungry people,” he told DC Report. “If food stamps need money, let Trump raise the taxes on his own high-income bracket.” Continue reading

Thousands of Minnesotans caught up in federal push to tighten work requirements for food aid

Advocates for those who rely on the SNAP program say the change will push more people to food shelves.

Thousands of Minnesotans could lose access to food stamps when a federal rule change goes into effect next year tightening work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Federal officials say about 7% of those on SNAP are able-bodied adults without dependents and that the rule change will save the government $5.5 billion over five years. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said the change is about “restoring the original intent of food stamps … moving more able-bodied Americans to self-sufficiency.”

But advocates who serve Minnesotans who rely on SNAP argue that the change will make it difficult for those who need help to get it and put even more pressure on food shelves and other community programs.

Continue reading

6 Communities That Trump’s Latest SNAP Proposal Would Hurt Most

The Trump administration is on the verge of making an end run around Congress, attempting to slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by fiat. Its latest effort is a proposed rule that is open for public comment until April 2. This rule would restrict SNAP eligibility by limiting states’ flexibility to help jobless or underemployed workers in struggling regions. By the administration’s own estimate, enacting this rule would substantially increase hunger and hardship, stripping at least 755,000 Americans of food assistance—though other estimates suggest it could be more than 1 million—and cut SNAP by $15 billion, slashing more than 178,000 jobs over the coming decade. The administration’s most recent attempt to cut SNAP comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s failed attempt to achieve similar SNAP cuts in the 2018 Farm Bill—cuts that Congress rejected on a bipartisan basis.

This proposed rule is not just cruel; it is also bad policy. Making people hungrier will not help them find work any faster; it will only kick underemployed and unemployed workers when they are down. Most working-age SNAP participants who are not receiving disability benefits are working, but they are often in unstable jobs with volatile schedules and low wages, making them especially likely to be affected by the rule. If Trump were serious about promoting work, he would embrace policies such as increasing the minimum wage and providing affordable, high-quality child care, both of which are popular across party lines. By contrast, cutting SNAP is deeply unpopular: Two-thirds of Americans oppose cuts to food assistance. Continue reading “6 Communities That Trump’s Latest SNAP Proposal Would Hurt Most”

House Republican Farm Bill Will Hurt People With Disabilities and Older Adults

The following article by Eliza Schultz and Rachel West was posted on the Center for American Progress website May 16, 2018:

The highly partisan 2018 Farm Bill proposal, which House Republicans released in mid-April, threatens to compound the hardships faced by millions of disadvantaged Americans by substantially increasing hunger and food insecurity for those who rely on food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill’s effects would be especially severe for those with disabilities and for older adults—both of whom disproportionately struggle in the labor market.

During the decade-long recovery from the Great Recession, the job market has gradually improved for most workers. Yet slowly climbing labor force participation and falling unemployment mask significant differences across various groups of Americans. In particular, individuals with disabilities and older adults have faced a decidedly slower recovery. According to recent census data, just 31.6 percent of adults with disabilities ages 25 to 64 participate in the labor force—compared with 81.7 percent of their nondisabled peers—and this group is nearly three times more likely to be unemployed.* Meanwhile, labor market participation among adults ages 50 to 59 is 75.3 percent, nearly 7 percentage points lower than that of people ages 25 to 49. Furthermore, this demographic is disproportionately likely to experience long-term unemployment—that is, unemployment for six months or longer. And since the risk of disability rises precipitously with age, there is considerable overlap between these two populations. As a result, workers in these groups have not been able to reap the benefits of the economic recovery to the same extent as prime-age nondisabled workers. Continue reading “House Republican Farm Bill Will Hurt People With Disabilities and Older Adults”

Trump’s ‘Harvest Box’ Isn’t Viable in SNAP Overhaul, Officials Say

The following article by Glenn Thrush was posted on the New York Times website February 13, 2018:

People paid for fresh produce using federal assistance at a farmers market in Lake Orion, Mich., in 2013. Credit Lauren Abdel-Razzaq/The Detroit News, via AP

WASHINGTON — The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program offers about 46 million low-income Americans both sustenance and economic choice by providing an allowance to buy the fruit, meat, fresh vegetables, soda, ice cream and kind of bread they want to eat.

But on Monday, the Trump administration sprung a surprise: Under a proposal in the president’s budget many participants in the program would be given half their benefits in the form of a “Harvest Box” full of food preselected for nutritional value and economic benefit to American farmers. The cache of cheaper peanut butter, canned goods, pasta, cereal, “shelf stable” milk and other products would now be selected by the federal government, not by the people actually eating it. Continue reading “Trump’s ‘Harvest Box’ Isn’t Viable in SNAP Overhaul, Officials Say”

Four charts that show who loses out if the White House cuts food stamps

The following article by Orgul Dement Ozturk was posted on the Conversation website July 18, 2017:

The White House has proposed cutting 25 percent of SNAP’s budget – about US$193 billion – over the next decade.

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though it’s more widely known by its pre-2008 name, food stamps. This program helps about 44 million people per month buy food. Last year, the government spent $71 billion in total on the program.

SNAP serves the most vulnerable in our society, for whom a little money means a lot. According to the Congressional Budget Office, cuts to SNAP will likely have a major impact on the individuals who were hurt most by the recent recession. Continue reading “Four charts that show who loses out if the White House cuts food stamps”

Congresswoman Asks Why Drug Tests Are Only Being Considered For Food Stamp Recipients, Not Farmers

The following article by Bryce Covert was posted on the ThinkProgress.org website February 25, 2016:

imagesUnder current law, states aren’t allowed to require drug screening and testing for low-income people to enroll in the food stamps program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP). That’s something Wisconsin, which is fighting the issue in court, and Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), who chairs the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee that administers SNAP, want to change. Aderholt has has unveiled a measure that would pave the way for states that want to add a drug testing requirement.

That didn’t fly with Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). At a subcommittee hearing on Wednesday,she questioned why drug testing would be limited to the SNAP program and not all others subsidized through the Department of Agriculture, such as farmers who get federal crop insurance and other federal subsidies. “If we’re going to look at drug testing for SNAP, we should take the entire Department of Agriculture and all those programs that provide federal subsidy to folks, and they ought to be drug tested as well,” she said. Continue reading “Congresswoman Asks Why Drug Tests Are Only Being Considered For Food Stamp Recipients, Not Farmers”