SNAP
10 states selected for job-training pilot for food-stamp recipients
In a pilot project that includes urbanized Maryland and heavily rural Arkansas, 10 states will experiment with ways to improve employment and training programs for food-stamp recipients.
Lower food-stamp costs spur some farm-bill crowing
Cost savings under the 2014 farm law will be more than twice as large as originally forecast, around $36 billion over 10 years, thanks to markedly lower projected outlays on food stamps and crop insurance, says the House Agriculture Committee.
Drug tests for food stamps? Not fair, says Vilsack
Two days after President Obama requested $1.1 billion to combat heroin and prescription drug abuse, a senior House appropriator suggested USDA should allow drug testing of food stamp recipients.
Retailers would stock greater variety of foods under SNAP proposal
Retailers who want to be part of the food-stamp program would be required to offer a wider array of foods under a USDA proposal intended to give low-income Americans access to healthier food choices.
Up to 1 million to lose food stamp benefits as waivers end
The think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says "more than 500,000 and as many as 1 million of the nation's poorest people" will lose food stamp benefits during 2016 "due to the return in many areas of a three-month limit on benefits for unemployed adults aged 18-49 who aren't disabled or raising minor children."
Obama to seek $12 billion to expand summer food program for kids
President Obama will ask Congress for a long-term expansion of the summer food program so it reaches every child - roughly 22 million at latest count - who gets lunch for free or at reduced price during the school year, the White House announced. At present, only one in six of those low-income schoolchildren is covered by the summer food program.
Glickman, Veneman: Consider food-stamp ban on sugary drinks
With the recommendation in the new Dietary Guidelines to limit added sugar to 10 percent of daily calories, "consumers now know how much is too much," say former agriculture secretaries Dan Glickman and Ann Veneman. "Congress and USDA should consider whether the limit on added sugar could also inform their thinking about other nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program."
Bush proposes elimination of food stamps
The government's web of social-assistance programs should be converted into a block grant run by states, said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in proposing broad welfare reform: "I will eliminate failing, ineffective programs including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps), housing assistance programs and the nation’s cash welfare program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF)."
With lower jobless rates, states impose time limits on food stamps
At least 500,000 people will lose food stamp benefits this year "due to the return in many areas of a three-month limit" for so-called ABADs, able-bodied adults without dependents, says the think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
New effort in Maine to ban soda and candy from food stamps
Maine is seeking permission from the USDA to bar the purchase and soda and candy with food stamps, even though nine other states have had such requests turned down, says the Portland Press Herald.
Food assistance ‘not fully solving’ U.S hunger problem
"Hunger is an important problem" in America and public nutrition programs such as food stamps, WIC and school lunch "are addressing ... but not fully solving" persistently elevated rates of hunger, said the co-chairs of the bipartisan National Commission on Hunger.
Food stamps will be cut off in a federal shutdown
The food-stamp program, the largest U.S. anti-hunger initiative, will stop distributing benefits if there is no budget agreement and the federal government shuts down on Oct. 1 for the second time in three years, said the USDA. "Once that occurs, families won't be able to use these benefits at grocery stores to buy the food their families need."
Candidates should talk about the ‘F-word,’ but probably won’t
Political reporters from newspapers in Chico and Sacramento, California, and Reno, Nevada, collaborated on a list of “10 issues that the presidential candidates absolutely need to discuss but probably won’t.” The “F-word” -- as in food -- comes in at number four.
Food stamp enrollment down by 1 million people this year
Food stamp enrollment is down by an average 1 million people from fiscal 2013, say USDA data, to 46.6 million people for the first seven months of this fiscal year. The decline points to a 2 percent reduction in participation for the fiscal year ending on Sept 30. It would be the first decline in six years.
USDA revamps supplemental food program
USDA published a final rule, effective in 30 days, in the Federal Register to "phase out the participation of women, infants, and children in CSFP (Commodity Supplemental Food Program) and transition it to a low-income, elderly-only program," as required by the 2014 farm policy law. Women and children will be served by WIC in coming years. A small portion of CSFP enrollment is women and children. They will remain in the program until the children exceed the age of eligibility.
Food stamp review “is the big deal,” says Conaway
Food stamps, the largest U.S. antihunger program, "lacks a clear mission," said chairwoman Jackie Walorski of the House Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition. In opening a hearing on characteristics of food-stamp recipients, the Indiana Republican said the program, which helps poor people buy food, "is not helping lift people out of poverty." She also complained of "many levels of bureaucracy" and overlapping federal, state and local programs.
Food stamps fail to meet changing needs, says Conaway
The premiere U.S. antihunger program has failed to adjust to changing needs, said Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway, in opening "without preconceived notions" a top-to-bottom review of the food stamp program. Conaway said he is committed to "strengthening the program to serve as a tool to help individuals move up the economic ladder." Indiana Republican Jackie Walorski, who chairs the nutrition subcommittee, said the review could take a couple of years.
No cuts here, please, House Agriculture tells budgeteers
The House Agriculture Committee pointed to spending cuts enacted as part of the 2014 farm law, and asked the Budget Committee to look to the other 98 percent of the federal budget for savings. "From our perspective, we believe the Committee on Agriculture has done its part for now with respect to deficit reduction," says a letter approved on a voice vote by committee members. The farm law called for $23 billion in savings and the committee says the savings "remain intact."