Families feel the pangs of SNAP cuts, By Lolly Bowean, Juan Perez Jr. and Vikki Ortiz Healy, November 10, 2013, Chicago Tribune: “It wasn’t until years after Amy Jezler lost her job at the Salvation Army and her family lost their south suburban home to foreclosure that money got so tight she had to resort to signing up for food stamps. And even then, it was difficult to visit the Family Community Resource Center in Blue Island and ask for help, Jezler said. ‘I was always taught to do it on your own,’ the Park Forest resident said. ‘I was getting to the point where it was harder and harder. (I had) to make the decision: Do I pay bills this month, or do I eat?’ For a year and a half, Jezler has collected $193 a month from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to help feed her husband, who has been in and out of work, and her 10-year-old daughter, she said. But on Thursday, she learned her food stamp benefits had been slashed by $30…”
Should Oregon pay $1.5 million to put photos on food stamps, welfare cards? Lawmakers consider fraud reduction options, By Yuxing Zheng, November 14, 2013, The Oregonian: “It would cost Oregon at least $1.5 million in the first year and about $930,000 annually after that to put photographs of cardholders on the Oregon Trail cards used by food stamps and welfare recipients. That’s the estimate recently heard by lawmakers on an interim legislative work group considering methods of reducing public assistance fraud. A May audit from the Secretary of State’s office found that hundreds of Oregonians who were deceased, incarcerated, or won the lottery benefited from one of three public assistance programs intended for low-income individuals…”
Cut in food stamps forces hard choices on poor, By Kim Severson and Winnie Hu, November 7, 2013, New York Times: “For many, a $10 or $20 cut in the monthly food budget would be absorbed with little notice. But for millions of poor Americans who rely on food stamps, reductions that began this month present awful choices. One gallon of milk for the kids instead of two. No fresh broccoli for dinner or snacks to take to school. Weeks of grits and margarine for breakfast. And for many, it will mean turning to a food pantry or a soup kitchen by the middle of the month…”
Deep cuts to food stamp program started Friday, By Devon Merling, November 7, 2013, Deseret News: “As of last Friday, Nov. 1, 48 million Americans who receive money to buy vouchers under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as ‘food stamps,’ will see a cut to their monthly benefits…”
Food stamp reductions: N.J. recipients finding it harder to feed families, By Jason Grant, November 5, 2013, Star-Ledger: “The lines are growing deeper across New Jersey at soup kitchens, some volunteers say, in the wake of recent cuts to the federal food stamp program. At grocery stores, such as the C-Town supermarket in Newark, anxious words are filling the air: The cuts that came down Friday — the result of a rollback to increased benefits under President Obama’s 2008 economic stimulus bill — are what many customers are talking about, a cashier says…”
Cuts to food stamps will mean increased demand at area food pantries, By Jamie Munks, November 6, 2013, Glens Falls Post-Star: “Cuts to the federal food stamp program that took effect Friday have caused anxiety among local people who receive the benefits and those who run food pantries. The cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, widely known as food stamps, began last week with the sunset of higher benefits that were part of the 2009 federal stimulus package meant to help Americans through the recession…”
As cuts to food stamps take effect, more trims to benefits are expected, By Catherine Rampell, October 31, 2013, New York Times: “Starting Friday, millions of Americans receiving food stamps will be required to get by with less government assistance every month, a move that not only will cost them money they use to feed their families but is expected to slightly dampen economic growth as well. Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, popularly referred to as food stamps, reflect the lapse of a temporary increase created by the administration’s stimulus program in 2009…”
Food stamp cuts set to kick in Friday as Congress debates billions in further reductions, By Mary Clare Jalonick (AP), November 1, 2013, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune: “More than 47 million Americans who receive food stamps will see their benefits go down starting Friday, just as Congress has begun negotiations on further cuts to the program. Beginning in November, a temporary benefit from the 2009 economic stimulus that boosts food stamp dollars will no longer be available. According to the Agriculture Department, that means a family of four receiving food stamps will start receiving $36 less a month…”
Automatic cut in federal food stamps kicks in today, By Virginia Young, November 1, 2013, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “People living in poverty could find it harder to pay the grocery bill this month. An across-the-board 5.5 percent cut in food stamps takes effect today. Benefits are being scaled back because of the expiration of a temporary boost passed by Congress in 2009 to help people during the recession…”
How food stamp cuts affect your state, By Jake Grovum, November 1, 2013, Stateline: “The record number of Americans relying on federal aid to put food on the table will have to make do with less starting today, as a recession-era boost to food stamps officially expires. Benefits are being reduced by about 5 percent beginning Nov. 1 for all of the nearly 47.7 million Americans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…”
