From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities –
All of the more than 47 million Americans, including 22 million children, who receive food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) will see their benefits cut this fall, according to new data that the U.S. Department of Agriculture released this month and discussed in a new report from the Washington, DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
That’s because a modest boost in benefits for all SNAP recipients that policymakers included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to strengthen the economy and ease hardship expires on October 31. Beginning November 1, every SNAP household in America will face cuts to already modest assistance to purchase food. For a family of three, that cut will mean a reduction of $29 a month — $319 for the remaining 11 months of the fiscal year — a serious loss for families whose benefits will, after this cut, average less than $1.40 per person, per meal.
“Millions of families’ budgets have been stretched to the breaking point during the economic recession and the long recovery,” stated Stacy Dean, Vice President for Food Assistance Policy and an author of the report. “Whether someone has lost a job, or is working at a job that does not pay enough to keep food on the table, this modest increase in food assistance is providing a vital lifeline to keep families afloat.”
SNAP is one of the fastest, most effective ways to stimulate a struggling economy, with every $1 increase in SNAP benefits generating about $1.70 in economic activity.
The across-the-board cuts scheduled for November will reduce the program by $5 billion in fiscal year 2014 alone. Cuts of that magnitude will have a significant impact on low-income families.
Dean continued, “For the first time in the program’s history, every SNAP recipient will see a cut in their benefits — including 22 million children. These cuts will be particularly painful for the many families who struggle to have enough to eat at the end of each month even with SNAP assistance.”
On top of these across-the-board cuts to the program, the House of Representatives recently considered legislation that would have cut $20 billion from SNAP, eliminating food assistance for nearly 2 million people and incentivizing states to cut families off of the program. The House is considering and could vote on even deeper cuts to the program in the coming weeks.
The full report, SNAP Benefits Will Be Cut for All Participants In November 2013, is available athttp://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3899
If you are getting public asst. you should be drug tested…….
Great, now we get to pay even more for expensive drug testing. Every state that’s tried this has seen costs vastly increase. It costs more to test 100 people then to kick of the 1 cheating.
More foolishness and expense. Drug warriors and their prey.
I’d say I spend around 250 and over a month for food just for myself. But that includes no candy, pop or processed crap so that’s why it’s so high. It’s all high quality proteins like, shrimp, tenderloin, lobster and lets of fresh fruits and veggies.
Yes, it costs a LOT more to eat healthy but worth it in the long run. And the short run for that matter as well. Most people are dummies, they buy premium fuel for their car but not their body.
What’s a beef package?
Thats a cop busting people for not wearing seatbelts…not for meth but for seatbelts…not a homeless tho thats for sure
At the same time their benenfits are reduced the tax payers will start paying their utility bills and continue paying their daycare assistance. You want other peoples taxes to fund your lack of birth control learn to shop wiser and stop dating people off NIM’s wall.
Cut 5 billion from the snap program, then turn around and give it to a war torn muslim country that doesn’t like us anyway…. WTH….
Yes, you can feed a family of four on this amount of money a month. It does not involve eating a lot of steak. It does involve a lot of sales/couponing and meal planning. It’s sad that many of today’s young people graduate from high school and have no clue how to cook, where their food comes from, and no clue on how to cook one meal for several days. Pasta and spaghetti sauce can go along ways if need be. I don’t think that many folks realize that is OK to eat pasta and spaghetti sauce if you HAVE to, in order to have food on the table! Another great skill that young people don’t seem to know about is having a garden. There’s an opportunity to get a lot of fresh veggies and fruits each year here in Iowa. Freezing and canning many of this fresh produce can make the Winter months healthier and easier on the pocketbook, when it comes to eating healthy. It’s all about education and people willing to learn, sadly all I see is more folks wanting a hand out and not wanting to learn new things, so they can afford to feed their family. We are a family of four- Our family food budget is $400 a month, not too far off from what these folks are receiving. My kids don’t feel deprived and neither do my husband nor I.
And you can use SNAP to buy seeds and plants to grow our food. However, if you lose your job in October, seeds won’t help you. A garden is a seasonal long-term commitment.
A couple years ago I was on food stamps, I received 500 a month on disability and 200 on food stamps. It was me and my 3 kids, after a year it dropped to 100 a month then a few months later to 23 a month. Now I got a raise on my disability so I don’t get food stamps anymore. They give you enough to barley and I mean barley survive. If you don’t need food stamps then you get more than you need.
The big wigs put the food stamp program in the farm bill – all of you know these politicans (alot of them own farms) need the money worse than the poor folk !!!
$319 for a family of three is very workable. You just have to shop smart. Buy everything for the month at once instead of week to week (then your more likely to spend the food stamps on candy, pop, etc) plan your meals, and always use coupons. There are plenty of websites that have printable coupons that don’t have experation dates. When my son first started eating solid food, we fed our family on $175 for the whole month. Granted it was a lot of hot dogs and spaghetti, but it is do-able.
Doing that wil eliminate fresh fruits and vegetables. You’d be better off going vegan and shopping twice a week to get seasonal produce at its peak.
While I really feel bad for the people who really need food stamps, I will say that those of them that sit in the bars drinking beer and then go out side to smoke their tobacco and do their drugs can just give up some of their bad habits and spend the money on food.
LVS- I agree 100%…….. If I had an extra 300 a month for food I could buy a beef package and eat like a king!!
It’s funny to me how people turn their noses up to others but, won’t reach out to help the person next to you. When was the last time any of you helped out your neighbor? Everyone who receives these benefits are not in the projects or less than market value homes. I would rather continue to shop as I always have for my family, healthy and budgetful. However, with me not being able to find suitable work, yes some of us do work and want to work, it’s very hard. Living in Florida, we don’t have much space outside our homes nor the climate. for gardens. So now what? And this beef package- whatsoever is this? If you work everyday, you can’t afford to buy decent food for yourself, you should consider a new career. Snap or no snap, my kids will eat nutritional meals, hot dogs and hamburger helper.
Lol not hot dogs and hamburger helper. Typo