State plans to stop food stamp supplement for elderly, By Barry Massey (AP), June 2, 2011, Alamogordo Daily News: “About 4,000 low-income elderly and disabled New Mexicans will see their food stamp benefits drop in July due to state budget cuts. Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration plans to end a state program that supplements federal food stamp benefits for the elderly and disabled to ensure they get at least $25 a month in assistance. ‘That’s 4,000 seniors who will have less money for food. That’s the impact,’ Ruth Hoffman, director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in New Mexico, said Tuesday. New Mexicans who qualify for $16 a month in federal food stamps – currently the minimum amount from the federal government – also get an extra $9 a month from the state to make certain their combined assistance is $25. But the Democratic-controlled Legislature provided no money to continue the supplemental benefits in the upcoming budget year, which starts July 1. The Martinez administration had requested $600,000 from the Legislature to continue the program…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty