- Food stamp program under fire, By Pamela M. Prah, March 23, 2012, Stateline.org: “The odds of winning one of Michigan’s high-stakes lottery games are 1 in 10,000, but the probability of two people hitting million-dollar jackpots and still be collecting food stamps has to be even more remote. That is exactly what happened in Michigan, stoking a nationwide debate over whether the program is becoming an out-of-control entitlement. A lottery winner ‘can certainly afford his own food, and should not be able to get more money from hard-working taxpayers after his big pay out,’ says Michigan state Representative Dave Agema, who has introduced proposals aimed at ensuring lottery winners aren’t on the public dole. ‘Michigan’s taxpayers have an absolute right to know when their tax dollars are going to millionaires,’ he said. While these kinds of cases are seen as rare, the $75 billion spent last year on food stamps across the country is coming under more scrutiny, as Congress struggles to pare down the federal debt. With a record 45 million Americans relying on food stamps, states and Congress are taking a closer look at who should get help paying for groceries…”
- Idaho bill would stagger food stamps, By Holly Beech, March 29, 2012, Idaho Press-Tribune: “Grocers are asking Health and Welfare to distribute food stamps – or SNAP benefits – over a number of days rather than just the first of the month. But for the second year in a row, a bill that would answer that request probably won’t make it to the governor’s desk. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more to stagger issuance, said Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston. Lodge is holding the bill in committee after it glided through the House Friday, sponsored by Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa…”
- State panel to review EBT cards, with eye toward proper usage, By Conor Berry, March 28, 2012, MassLive.com: “The panel created to examine potential misuse and abuse of electronic benefit transfer cards – better known as EBT cards and formerly known as Food Stamps – is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Thursday in Boston. The session is the final meeting before the EBT Commission releases an April 1 report with recommendations on how to improve local enforcement of the federal program, which in Massachusetts is administered by the state Department of Transitional Assistance. The program, which is aimed at helping low-income households pay for food, is known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The federal Food Stamp program officially changed its name to SNAP in October 2008…”
Tag: Idaho
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Food stamps surge in West, By Jim Carlton, March 16, 2011, Wall Street Journal: “Before the recession hit, Idaho, Nevada and Utah had some of the lowest rates of food stamp use in the nation. It was a boom time in a region that has always prided itself on self-reliance and a disdain for government handouts. But since the recession began, these three states have the fastest growth rates in the nation of participation in the federal program, recently released figures show. Utah saw a nearly 34% jump in food-stamp participation in December from the same month a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nevada had the second fastest growth rate at 25%, followed by Idaho at 24%. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, those three states plus Wyoming ranked among the top 10 in food-stamp growth, with Idaho leading with a 42% jump from 2009, according to USDA figures…”
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Enrollment
Food stamp rolls reach historic levels, By Pamela M. Prah, February 7, 2011, Stateline.org: “Dorene is a certified teacher in Idaho, but the only job she can find is as a teaching assistant, which pays under $11 an hour. That is considerably less than the $45,000 that the average teacher in Idaho earns annually. She asked that her full name not be used because her family doesn’t know she has been getting food stamp benefits for her two young children and herself for a year. ‘We live paycheck to paycheck,’ she says, even with child support. ‘I never thought I’d be in this situation.’ Nationwide, one in seven Americans currently receives help from the government to put food on the table. All but 14 states saw double-digit spikes in the number of people getting food stamps over the one-year period that ended in November 2010. But Idaho had the largest one-year increase in the country: 28 percent, according to the latest government figures…”