SNAP
Tougher SNAP rules may worsen food insecurity, per USDA analysis
Administration says its proposal to tighten SNAP rules would cut 3 million recipients
The Trump administration would oust 1 in every 12 SNAP recipients, a total of 3.1 million people, under a plan released today to restrict access to food stamps through so-called categorical eligibility. “Some states are taking advantage of a loophole” to load SNAP rolls, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Food stamp multiplier makes $1 worth $1.50 to GDP
Analysts agree that federal spending on low-income people during a recession has a large multiplier effect because the recipients are quick to spend the money, which ripples through the economy. Using the newly compiled Social Accounting Matrix, USDA economists Patrick Canning and Brian Stacy said the SNAP multiplier is a healthy 1.5.
Supreme Court rules SNAP sales data are confidential
A solid majority of the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that SNAP sales data at the store level are confidential and outside of the reach of public-records laws. The Argus Leader newspaper fought for access to the information for eight years on grounds that taxpayers deserved to know how and where the largest U.S. anti-hunger program spends more than $65 billion a year.
‘Minnesota Millionaire’ is House GOP’s food stamp poster child
Rob Undersander has been dining out on political outrage for more than a year with his story of how he purposely abused the food stamp system. On Thursday, House Republicans brought the wealthy Minnesotan to Congress to support their arguments for SNAP reform.
SNAP boosted rural employment during the Great Recession
The Obama administration’s increase in food stamp benefits during the Great Recession “had a positive average impact on county-level employment” in rural areas, says a USDA report.
Grocers ask Supreme Court to keep SNAP data secret
In a case testing the limits of public-records laws, a trade group for grocers asked the Supreme Court on Monday to bar the release of store-by-store sales data for the $65 billion-a-year food stamp program. A South Dakota newspaper has fought since 2011 for the data, arguing taxpayers deserve to know how and where the government is spending their money.
SNAP starts small, will go national, in test of online grocery shopping
The USDA launched a test of online grocery shopping for food stamp recipients in New York State on Thursday, with plans to expand the pilot to nine states across the nation.
Proposed rule would ease standards for retailers that accept SNAP
The Department of Agriculture issued a proposed rule Friday that would ease the standards for how many and what types of products food retailers must stock in order to accept SNAP benefits at their stores. An Obama-era rule had expanded the amount of healthy foods that retailers had to stock in order to participate in the program.
SNAP defenders blast USDA time-limit proposal
The administration is motivated by conservative ideology, not facts, with its proposal to toughen the 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, said the chair of a House Agriculture subcommittee on Wednesday, vowing “to do everything I can to stop this rule.”
Stricter time limit for SNAP would affect more than 1 million
The Trump administration’s proposal for stricter enforcement of the 90-day limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults would most often hit people living alone in deep poverty, said an analysis by Mathematica Policy Research. More than 1 million people would be affected by the regulation, the report said.
To replace proposed food stamp cuts, USDA raises Harvest Box, again
The White House proposed a $19 billion cut in food stamps for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, achieving the 25 percent reduction in SNAP mainly by putting forward, once again, "America's Harvest Box" of canned and nonperishable food. The administration also proposed on Monday to apply SNAP work requirements more broadly and to include older Americans in them. Both ideas were rejected last year by lawmakers.
Stabenow calls for USDA to withdraw SNAP proposal
Questioned for the second day in a row on Capitol Hill, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he has the authority to tighten food stamp rules for able-bodied adults even if lawmakers don’t like it. Senate Democrats pushed back, urging Perdue on Thursday to withdraw the proposal.
SNAP proposal means more hunger, not jobs, Democrats tell Perdue
The Trump administration will shift able-bodied Americans into better-paying jobs through stricter enforcement of a 90-day limit on food stamps, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told skeptical House lawmakers on Wednesday. Democrats threatened litigation to stop the proposal, which could end SNAP benefits to more than 700,000 people.
New bill proposes hefty increase for SNAP benefits
A new bill, proposed by the vice-chair of the House Agriculture Committee and backed by one of the largest anti-hunger groups in the nation, would raise food stamp benefits by an estimated 30 percent. Rep. Alma Adams, the lead sponsor of the "closing the meal gap" legislation, said on Tuesday that a companion bill would be filed by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a presidential aspirant.
Trump will try again to cut USDA, says Perdue
The Agriculture Department faces large spending cuts, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday while a White House official said President Trump will ask for one "one of the largest spending reductions in history" in the upcoming fiscal 2020 budget. Perdue told reporters that he encouraged the administration to submit a package "within the realm of negotiation," considering Congress rejected outright Trump's previous budgets.
USDA works on proposal to tighten SNAP eligibility rules
In a bookend to its proposal to toughen the time limit on food stamps for able-bodied adults, the USDA is working on a regulation to reduce the number of people who are automatically considered for SNAP benefits because they receive welfare assistance.
Trade war panned as China buys more U.S. soy
Two outspoken Kansans scored the trade war with China as needlessly disruptive for the farm sector on Tuesday, with Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts comparing it to the five-week partial government shutdown and economist Barry Flinchbaugh urging Congress to curtail President Trump's power to impose tariffs in the name of national security. In a pause in the trade war, China bought 2.6 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans, the third-largest soy sale in USDA records.
House defeats Trump-backed government funding bill
One day after President-elect Donald Trump shot down a stopgap government funding bill, the House defeated a Trump-backed bill written by Republicans to keep the government running until March 14. The GOP bill included $31 billion to buffer the impact in rural America of natural disasters and lower farm income.