Skip to main content
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Day: June 19, 2013

The Farm Bill and SNAP

House passage of new 5-year farm bill could hinge on level of cuts in food stamp program, By Mary Clare Jalonick (AP), June 19, 2013, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Prospects for House passage of a new farm bill could turn on the level of food stamp cuts as key backers scrambled Wednesday to secure support for the five-year, half-trillion dollar measure. The House planned to begin voting Wednesday on 103 amendments to the bill, including a Democratic proposal to eliminate $2 billion in cuts in the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Assistance Program, or SNAP. The bill also would make it more difficult for some to qualify for food stamps, and would expand some agriculture subsidies and set policy for rural development programs…”

Climate Change and the World’s Poor

  • World’s poorest will feel brunt of climate change, warns World Bank, By Fiona Harvey, June 19, 2013, The Guardian: “Millions of people around the world are likely to be pushed back into poverty because climate change is undermining economic development in poor countries, the World Bank has warned. Droughts, floods, heatwaves, sea-level rises and fiercer storms are likely to accompany increasing global warming and will cause severe hardship in areas that are already poor or were emerging from poverty, the bank said in a report. Food shortages will be among the first consequences within just two decades, along with damage to cities from fiercer storms and migration as people try to escape the effects…”
  • Climate change threatens trouble in the near future, World Bank says, By Howard Schneider, June 18, 2013, Washington Post: “The World Bank is beginning to commit billions of dollars to flood prevention, water management and other projects to help major Asian cities avoid the expected impact of climate change, a dramatic example of how short the horizon has become to alleviate the effects of global warming. Places such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City are now considered ‘hot spots’ that will bear the brunt of the impact as sea levels rise, tropical storms become more violent, and rainfall becomes both more sporadic and — in the rainy season — more intense…”