'Catastrophic': Congressional Apathy to Push Millions of Nation's Poor into Deeper Hunger

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/31-4



Funding extension for SNAP allowed to expire as lawmakers weigh further cuts to the program for families in need

'Catastrophic': Congressional Apathy to Push Millions of Nation's Poor into Deeper Hunger
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer
Published on Thursday, October 31, 2013 by Common Dreams

U.S. lawmakers will allow the essential food aid program Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to lose $5 billion in funding when a stimulus boost ends on Friday.

The massive blow to the program means that the roughly 47 million people with food stamp assistance—that's one in every seven Americans, 49 percent of whom are children—will have their monthly assistance gouged.

As Colorlines reports, "The total cuts will amount to about a five percent reduction for families who already struggle to make ends meet, and some states already began making cuts."

"Instead of receiving an average of a buck-fifty for a meal, individuals in need of food assistance will get about $1.40," explains Greg Kaufmann, poverty correspondent for The Nation. "For families of three, the cut means they will receive $29 less in food stamps every month."



unhappycamper comment: Sorry about your kids going hungry, but our latest $5~7 billion destroyer was floated the other day --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/11794884