SNAP
Subcommittee chair plans “thoughtful review” of food stamps
Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorksi, who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition, said she plans a "full-scale review" of the food stamp program. "It is intended to be a thoughtful review," she said in her first remarks about the undertaking. Walorski, who joined the Agriculture Committee this year, said the program should protect vulnerable populations of Americans while being prudent with taxpayer dollars.
Aggies may try to split farm subsidies and public nutrition
House Agriculture chairman Mike Conaway says his committee will consider whether farm subsidies and public nutrition programs, headlined by food stamps, should be handled separately by lawmakers, says Agri-Pulse.
Slow rise in child nutrition costs, food stamp rolls shrink
The U.S. child nutrition program, due for renewal this year by Congress, will rise in cost by 4 percent annually for the coming decade from the current $21 billion, says CBO. In its annual economic baseline report, CBO says "growth in the number of meals provided and in reimbursement rates will lead to spending increases" for a total cost of $32 billion in 2025. Food prices are projected to rise by 2.7 percent annually in the coming years, a fairly normal rate of food inflation.
Food stamps – short-term aid and and long-term support
For many people, food stamps, the premiere U.S. anti-hunger program, provides assistance during a fairly brief stretch of hard times, such as unemployment. For millions of others - foremost, the elderly and disabled - the program is a long-term support, says a new Agriculture Department report, Dynamics and Determinants of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation from 2008 to 2012. Food stamps were renamed SNAP in 2008 but the original name remains in use.
House Ag chairman plans quick start on CFTC reauthorization
Chairman Mike Conaway said the House Agriculture Committee will clear a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reauthorization bill for House debate "as early in April as we can." The starting point will be the bill that was approved, 265-144, by the House last summer, Conaway told reporters after an organizational meeting of the committee. Conaway was one of four co-sponsors of the bill, the Consumer Protection and End User Relief Act.
Time limit on food stamps will disqualify 1 million people
Roughly 1 million people - 2 percent of current enrollment - will be cut off of food stamps during 2016 as states re-impose the three-month limit on benefits to unemployed adults from ages 18-50 who are not disabled or raising children...
Five top themes of 2014 and for the new year
The year-end holidays are a traditional time for summing up and for trying to forecast the future. Here is the Ag Insider list of five salient issues in food and agriculture policy likely to lead the headlines in the new year, as they did in the year now waning. The issues...
With $200 million to divide, USDA seeks job-training ideas
The government will fund up to 10 pilot projects to provide food stamp recipients with the training and education to move up the job ladder, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced at a county employment office in Arlington, Va. The $200 million program is intended to improve the $400 million-a-year employment and training programs that are an adjunct of the major U.S. anti-hunger program.
Recession’s surge in food stamps reflected economic misery
The 2008-09 recession drove up food stamp enrollment by 19 million people, with the major increases clustered in regions with the greatest dislocation, such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada, rather than...
Ryan would fold food stamps into antipoverty grants
House Budget chairman Paul Ryan "outlined a plan to combat poverty on Thursday that would consolidate a dozen programs into a single 'Opportunity Grant' that largely shifts antipoverty efforts from the federal government to the states," said the New York Times.
Food stamp enrollment drops for fourth month in a row
Enrollment for food stamps, the largest U.S. anti-hunger program, is down for the fourth month in a row, according to new data from the Agriculture Department. Since the decline began last November, participation has dropped by 1.2 million people, or nearly 3 percent, to 46.2 million people in February, the latest month available.
Anti-hunger lawmaker expects more attacks on food stamps
Rep Jim McGovern, who opposed food stamp cuts in the 2014 farm law, says opponents are not satisfied with narrowing the connection between utility assistance and additional food stamps.
New York, Connecticut move to avoid food stamp losses
The governors of Connecticut and New York state say they will put more money into a program that helps poor people pay utility bills so they won't see a reduction in food stamp benefits.
Food stamp enrollment may be plateauing
Enrollment in the food stamp program rose by 2 pct in fiscal 2013, the slowest growth since fiscal 2007, says the Daily Yonder in reviewing a USDA report on public nutrition programs.