- House passes GOP plan to slash food stamp funding, By Ed O’Keefe and Niraj Chokshi, September 19, 2013, Washington Post: ” The House narrowly approved a far-reaching overhaul of the nation’s food-stamp program Thursday that would slash food aid to about 4 million Americans over the next few years and shift a greater burden of taking care of the poor to state governments. The Republican-backed plan, which would cut about $39 billion in funding for food-stamp programs over the next decade, differs sharply from a bipartisan Senate proposal passed in June, and its passage is likely to further strain relations between the two chambers as they prepare to spend the next several weeks battling over a short-term budget deal and raising the federal debt limit…”
- House Republicans pass deep cuts in food stamps, By Ron Nixon, September 19, 2013, New York Times: “House Republicans narrowly pushed through a bill on Thursday that slashes billions of dollars from the food stamp program, over the objections of Democrats and a veto threat from President Obama. The vote set up what promised to be a major clash with the Senate and dashed hopes for passage this year of a new five-year farm bill…”
- House passes bill to cut food-stamp spending, By Kristina Peterson, September 19, 2013, Wall Street Journal: “The House on Thursday narrowly passed a bill curtailing spending on food stamps, setting up a battle with the Senate, which backs far smaller cuts. The vote was 217-210. The bill would cut nearly $40 billion over a decade, or about 5% in expected spending, from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs. The Senate has called for a cut of about $4 billion to the programs. About 48 million Americans received food-stamp benefits last year…”
- House bill would take 3.8 million off food stamps, By Jennifer Liberto, September 19, 2013, CNNMoney: “House Republicans on Thursday passed a controversial bill that would drop 3.8 million people from food stamp rolls next year by making it tougher for some families to qualify. The bill would cut $40 billion from food stamps over the next decade, which would force about 14 million people from the program by 2023, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office…”
Day: September 20, 2013
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the US: 2012
- Household income, poverty hold steady, number of uninsured declines, By Tony Pugh, September 17, 2013, Miami Herald: “The nation’s elevated poverty rate and stagnant median household income showed no meaningful changes in 2012, while the number and percentage of Americans without health insurance declined slightly from 2011, due mainly to higher Medicare rolls, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report Tuesday…”
- US poverty rate steady at 15 percent, but ‘lower class’ is booming, By Patrik Jonsson, September 17, 2013, Christian Science Monitor: “Poorer Americans were no better off – and no worse off – in 2012 than in 2011, compared with their richer neighbors, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. The news may indicate that struggling workers and families whose fortunes have plummeted since the Great Recession have at last hit a financial plateau. But if the slide into poverty has finally stalled out, it appears to have left its mark on the psyches of many American workers. The share of those who identify themselves as ‘lower class’ – at 8.4 percent – now stands at its highest level in four decades, according to separate data released this week from the long-running General Social Survey (GSS)…”
August 2013 State Unemployment Rates
Jobless rates hold steady or fall in 32 states, By Doug Carroll, September 20, 2013, USA Today: “Led by North Dakota, 15 states saw August jobless rates significantly below the U.S. rate of 7.3%, the government said Friday. North Dakota continues to have the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, 3.0%, amid a boom in energy production there. Other states with low rates include South Dakota, 3.8%; Nebraska, 4.2%; Hawaii, 4.3%; Iowa, 4.9%; and Vermont and Wyoming, 4.6%…”