The Obama administration will announce today “grants to 10 states looking for a better way to get food-stamp recipients back to work,” says NPR. The pilot projects are the result of a compromise by lawmakers over food stamp cuts in the 2014 farm law. Congress allotted $200 million for the projects, which are intended to improve the employment and training programs that are a small part of the food-stamp budget. USDA invited proposals last summer.
NPR says the grantees will pursue a wide variety of approaches. Vermont will target hard-to-employ people, such as the homeless, while Mississippi will provide an intensive four-week job-readiness course. “That’s the right way to … administer the food stamp program. It’s certainly not to block grant the resources to states,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told NPR. Republicans in Congress have proposed converting food stamps into a block-grant program for states to run, accompanied with lower federal funding.
A large majority of food-stamp recipients are elderly, disabled and children. Conservative Republicans say a larger effort should be made to help recipients find a job or move up the economic ladder, especially able-bodied adults without children.
Vilsack and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez are expected to announce the grant winners in Atlanta. Some 46.25 million people — one out of seven Americans — received food stamps at latest count, down 3 percent from the peak of 47.8 million in December 2012. The average per-person benefit is $128 a month.