SNAP
Trump proposes long-term, 25-percent cut in food stamps, cost-sharing by states
The White House proposed a $193-billion cut in food stamp spending over the next decade, achieved by restricting benefits to able-bodied adults and by having states shoulder 20 percent of the cost of the program. Jim Weill, of the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center, said the cost-sharing plan "would make the program collapse" during economic hard times when states run short of money.
‘No sugarcoating’ sharp cuts at USDA, Perdue says
The Agriculture Department would lose more than 5 percent of its workforce under President Trump's proposals to slash crop insurance and food stamps, to down-size conservation programs and to eliminate many rural development programs, said USDA officials. "There's no sugarcoating what we will face," said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Signs of funding cuts for public nutrition in Trump budget
Congress would shear $6 billion from food stamps and the Women and Infants (WIC) food program along with eliminating two overseas food-aid programs, according to data leaked to the think tank Third Way. Proposals to cut farm subsidies and federally subsidized crop insurance in fiscal 2018 also are expected in the Trump administration budget to be released on Tuesday.
For low-wage workers, food stamps are a bridge, says think tank
Some of the most common occupations in the United States have low wages, unpredictable hours and few benefits, says a report by the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Most workers who participate in food stamps, formally named the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), are in service, administrative support and sales occupations, it says.
Maine governor is hopeful Trump agrees on soda, candy and food stamps
The Obama administration gave a cold shoulder to Gov. Paul LePage's proposal to bar Mainers from spending food stamps on soda and candy. LePage "is optimistic the new administration will approve his revived proposal," says The Associated Press, adding that lawmakers in Tennessee and Alabama are pursuing the same idea.
Immigrants refuse food stamps over deportation fears
Nervous that applying for food stamps will hurt their immigration status or put them at risk of deportation, immigrants are dropping food relief services. “Officials at Manna Food Center in Montgomery County, Md., report that about 20 percent of the 561 families they have helped apply for food stamps, or SNAP benefits, in the past few months have asked that their cases be closed,” says NPR.
Food stamp benefit levels may be too low, say anti-hunger groups
Conservative think tank would end crop subsidies, slash food stamps
The Heritage Foundation, credited as the source of many of President Trump's ideas on cutting discretionary spending, would eliminate the two major crop subsidy programs now in operation, end revenue insurance and abolish marketing orders for fresh produce if it had its way. The think tank's "Blueprint for Balance," a budget package for fiscal 2018, may answer the question of what the White House will propose in May as the full-bore successor to its "skinny budget" issued March 16.
Conaway plans ‘meaningful reforms’ to food stamps
Everything will be on the table when the House Agriculture Committee reviews the $70 billion-a-year food stamp program as part of writing the 2018 farm bill, said chairman Michael Conaway. "We will propose meaningful reforms to SNAP," said Conaway, using the abbreviation for the program's formal name, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
AEI fellow proposes multi-state test of ban on buying soda with food stamps
In the name of improving public health, the government should set up a multi-state demonstration project that bans poor people from using food stamps to buy soda and other sweetened beverages that are blamed for contributing to the obesity epidemic, said an American Enterprise Institute official.
Merrigan tells foodies: ‘Become an expert on the entire farm bill’
If they want to prevent cuts in the food-stamp program in the 2018 farm bill, nutrition and consumer groups need to know the language of crop subsidies, says Kathleen Merrigan, former deputy agriculture secretary. "Start educating yourselves about some other parts of the farm bill," she said, lamenting, "we don't really talk about a lot of these things that the people who really want to go after [food stamps] care about."
Food stamp enrollment down in nine of last 12 months
Some 43.2 million people received food stamps in the latest count, equal to 13 percent of Americans, say USDA data that show enrollments dropped in nine of the last 12 months. The antihunger group Food Research and Action Council said participation fell by 2.15 million people in the 12 months ending last October, the most recent month available.
Farm subsidies don’t influence food prices or help the poor, study says
Farm subsidy programs have little impact on food consumption, food security or nutrition of the poor in the United States, say three economists in a paper written for the American Enterprise Institute, which promotes the free-enterprise system. "When filtered through the food chain, their impacts on retail prices and food consumption are surely tiny," the paper said.
Seven retailers to test online purchase of groceries with food stamps
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says purchase of groceries over the internet is "a potential lifeline" for food-stamp recipients who live in areas with poor access to healthy foods. The USDA will begin a two-year test of the idea this summer with the help of seven retailers, ranging from e-commerce giant Amazon to Hart's Local Grocers in Rochester, NY.
Safeguard nutrition programs, antihunger groups ask Trump, Congress
The antihunger community asked President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress to protect public nutrition programs, from food stamps and school lunch to commodity donation programs.
As House panel concludes food-stamp review, Democrats warn against cuts
Senior Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee stood firm against cuts in the food stamp program at the end of two-year review inaugurated by chairman Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican. The largest U.S. antihunger program is a popular target for Republicans, who say it costs too much — $74 billion in fiscal 2015 — because it provides benefits to too many people.
With Trump in the White House, little progress on food policy
Former White House nutrition advisor Sam Kass says food policy advocates "are already nostalgic for the Obama era and will be playing defense for the next four year," says Associated Press in naming potential flash points. Kass says regulations such as the overhaul of the Nutrition Facts label and calorie counts on menus are likely to stay but there will be little additional progress.
Poverty rate falls nationally but not in rural areas
The U.S. poverty rate fell to 13.5 percent, down by 1.2 points from the previous year and the largest one-year decline since 1968, says the Census Bureau. But in rural areas, there was no significant change, with 16.7 percent of rural Americans living in poverty.