- Assembly passes bill requiring that most food stamp benefits go to purchasing healthy foods, By Patrick Marley and Jason Stein, May 7, 2013, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Food stamp recipients would have to spend most of their benefits on healthy food, and more kinds of food stamp fraud would be explicitly subject to state sanctions, under separate bills approved Tuesday. The Assembly approved, on a bipartisan vote of 68-26, a bill requiring at least two-thirds of the purchases in the state’s FoodShare program to come from a list of state-defined healthy foods, with Republicans arguing that the benefits outweighed the opposition of some business interests and advocates for the needy. The measure now goes to the state Senate…”
- Odd coalition opposes Wisconsin bill limiting junk food purchases for food stamp users, By Jason Stein, May 6, 2013, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “An odd coalition of advocates for the needy, local retailers and big corporations is opposing a fast-moving bill limiting junk food for food stamp recipients. The bill on Wisconsin’s FoodShare program comes before the state on Tuesday in the Assembly, where it is expected to pass despite the unusual opposition…”
- LePage proposal would bar food stamp use on junk food, By Matthew Stone, May 3, 2013, Bangor Daily News: “A proposal by Gov. Paul LePage that would bar food stamp recipients from spending their benefits on soft drinks and certain snack foods made its way to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Friday with bipartisan support. The LePage bill, LD 1411, is sponsored by Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta, the assistant Senate Republican leader, and is co-sponsored by five Democrats and four Republicans…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty