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

SNAP/Food Stamps

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  • Feds: Georgia can’t tie food stamps to drug tests: By Craig Schneider, June 3, 2014, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Georgia cannot implement a new law requiring drug tests for some food stamp applicants and recipients, federal officials told the state Tuesday. The law, passed by the Legislature in March and signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, would require testing in cases where state workers have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person is using drugs. It is scheduled to go into effect on July 1. But U.S. Department of Agriculture policy “prohibits states from mandating drug testing of (food stamp) applicants and recipients,” according to a letter . . .”
  • Economic upswing has fewer Americans receiving food stamps, By Pam Fessler, May 29, 2014, NPR: “Critics of the food stamp program have been alarmed in recent years by its rapid growth. Last year, about 1 in 7 people in the U.S. received food stamps, or SNAP benefits, as they’re called. That’s almost 48 million people, a record high. But the numbers have started to drop. In February, the last month for which figures were available, 1.6 million fewer people received food stamps than at the peak in December 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs the program. ‘It’s really showing that the program is doing what it’s designed to do,’ says Dorothy Rosenbaum, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank . . .”
  • Can food stamps help improve diets, fight obesity and save money? By Melissa Healy, June 3, 2014, Los Angeles Times: “Prohibiting the use of federal food stamps to purchase sugar-sweetened beverages and subsidizing the purchase of fruits and vegetables with the coupons would improve nutrition, foster weight loss and drive down rates of Type 2 diabetes among the program’s 47.6 million recipients, according to a new study. In so doing, the $79.8-billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) might also reap taxpayers untold future savings for the federally funded care of diabetes and other obesity-related ills among Medicaid recipients . . .”