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

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

  • Va. to stagger food-stamp payouts to ease crowding, By Jennifer Jiggetts, July 2, 2012, Virginian-Pilot: “The first of every month, about 440,000 households in the state get their monthly allotment of food stamps – now known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits – and many promptly head to their local grocery stores. Checkout lines can be much longer. Items such as Cheerios and broccoli can disappear from shelves. Some stores bring in extra staff. Only nine states do business this way. Now, that’s about to change in Virginia, as the state Department of Social Services will begin to alter the way it issues SNAP benefits in September. By October the benefits will be dispersed on the 1st, 4th, 7th and 9th of the month, based on the last digit of the recipient’s case number…”
  • Funds at risk: Once known as food stamps, SNAP provides food to poor, By Melissa Miller, July 1, 2012, Southeast Missourian: “She used to work two jobs and made good money. Now a health condition keeps her from working full-time. So a 32-year-old Cape Girardeau single mom depends on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, to help her take care of her 3-year-old son. The $342 a month the woman, who asked not to be named, receives from the SNAP program could be cut as part of a plan to save taxpayer dollars and reduce fraud under the 2012 Farm Bill approved in June by the U.S. Senate. The bill, known as the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act, provides subsidies to farmers and funds the USDA’s nutrition assistance programs for low-income Americans…”