Tag Archives: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Newswire: With 17% of Black families reporting a lack of food, Biden Administration gives SNAP biggest increase in history

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By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Seventeen percent of Black families in America still report not having enough food to eat – surpassing the 10 percent of all U.S. citizens with the same problem. But that dire circumstance could change starting in October when the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program receives its most significant increase in history. The Biden-Harris administration has approved an average 25 percent increase in benefits that should allow families more resources to purchase food. It marks the first time the benefit – commonly known as SNAP – increased since the program began in 1975. “Ensuring low-income families have access to a healthy diet helps prevent disease, supports children in the classroom, reduces health-care costs and more,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “And the additional money families will spend on groceries helps grow the food economy, creating thousands of new jobs along the way.” A U.S. Department of Agriculture study revealed that 88 percent of SNAP recipients struggled to obtain a healthy diet. Officials said recipients would receive an average of $147, or $36 more per month than they previously received. Vilsack said the department based the updated benefits formula on current food prices, dietary guidance, and nutrients found in food items. “Today is a day of great progress for struggling families across the nation, who will soon see a permanent and substantial increase to their monthly SNAP benefits for the first time ever,” noted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “Thanks to the Biden Administration strengthening this important lifeline, parents will be able to afford healthy food for their families, and children will not have to go to bed hungry.” More than 42 million Americans receive SNAP – more commonly known as food stamps. The number of recipients rose approximately 15 percent from February 2020, when the pandemic began, to April 2021. Government officials estimate that 80 percent of those who receive SNAP benefits work and have children, those with disabilities, and seniors on fixed incomes. The Biden-Harris administration asserted that the increase is another tool in the fight against poverty, and it provides children with better food selections. “This program was incredibly important for Americans,” Vilsack insisted. “The pandemic sort of shocked people from thinking, ‘I would never be involved in the SNAP program.”

Newswire: Republicans are planning an assault on programs for the poor

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Written By Nigel Roberts, Newsone

House Speaker Paul Ryan wants to cut holes in the social safety net during the 2018 legislative session, taking aim at programs poor people depend on to survive, Fox News reported.
“We’re going to get back at reforming these entitlements. And we’re going to take on welfare reform, which is another big entitlement program, where we’re basically paying people, able-bodied people, not to work and depriving them with all these disincentives from going to the workforce,” he said.
Fresh off passing tax reform legislation in December, the GOP wants to roll that momentum in 2018. The tax overhaul, which mainly benefits corporations and wealthy individuals, adds $1.4 trillion to the deficit. Now, the Republicans are looking for ways slash the debt they created. The solution to them is axing government health care programs and social services spending. “Frankly, it’s the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements — because that’s really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking,” Ryan said on Ross Kaminsky’s talk radio show.

Here’s what to expect:
1. Medicare
Yes, Medicare is on the table, even though the GOP has long feared a backlash from seniors. Ryan has been talking with President Donald Trump about the need to cut the program. “I think the president is understanding that choice and competition works everywhere in health care, especially in Medicare,” the House Speaker said.
their totally unnecessary $1.5 trillion tax cut for the rich the GOP will spend the next ten years saying we must cut Medicare, Medicaid, & Social Security because the deficit is too damn high. Never let the American people forget their tax cuts caused that deficit.

2. Medicaid
In addition to funding cuts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency within the Department of Health, has already signaled that changes are coming to the health care program for poor people. The agency, in a departure from President Barack Obama’s approach, is recommending that states establish a work requirement for certain Medicaid beneficiaries.

3. Food stamps
Reigning in the food stamp program is a perennial goal for Republicans. They see an opportunity through the pretext of reducing the budget deficit explosion they created. On top of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the GOP plans to give states more flexibility in how they administer the program. As with Medicaid, they also want to add a work requirement for receiving food stamps and direct cash assistance to the poor.