- House Democrats fall short in efforts to block food stamp cuts as lawmakers write farm bill, Associated Press, July 11, 2012, Washington Post: “Democrats fell short in efforts Wednesday to block cuts to the food stamp program as the House Agriculture Committee moved ahead on a half-trillion-dollar bill to fund farm and nutrition programs over the next five years. The program that helps feed 46 million people at a cost of near $80 billion a year was the dominant issue as committee members tried to advance one of the larger and more expensive bills that Congress is taking up this year. Democrats insisted that any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would result in people going hungry. Republicans said they were merely trying to bring efficiency to a program to ensure that anyone who is qualified for food benefits will receive them…”
- Number of Georgians on food stamps balloons, By Daniel Malloy and Katie Leslie, July 7, 2012, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Nearly one in five Georgians now gets federal assistance to put dinner on the table. As Congress debates the future of the food stamp program, with Republicans looking to cut it back, the number of recipients in Georgia has ballooned to 1.9 million as of April, or nearly 20 percent of the population. The state’s 0.4 percent increase from March was the seventh largest growth rate in the country, making Georgia one of 13 states where the number of beneficiaries rose, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Food Research and Action Center…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty