President Trump's Agriculture Department is moving to cut spending on food stamps, proposing changes that would slash $4.5 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over five years, trimming monthly benefits by as much as $75 for one in five families who rely on this assistance.
Under this plan, benefits would be cut for 19 percent of households on food stamps, while increasing benefits for 16 percent, with almost 8,000 households losing benefits entirely. Overall, the program cost $68 billion in 2018 alone.
Is it politically significant that those cuts would be concentrated in cold northern states most affected by a change in the way heating costs are calculated?
While the number of families losing benefits is a tiny percentage of the nearly 40 million people who receive SNAP benefits, for those families affected it will be a difficult blow to stomach.
This will be the third time the Trump administration has moved to cut food stamps. In December, the Agriculture Department said it would impose more stringent work requirements. In July, USDA proposed a rule that would take benefits away from more than three million people.
How do you feel about the Trump administration's effort to cut the food stamp program, which is supposed to help families in need buy groceries? That's the subject of this week's NFN Snap Poll. Let us know.
One of the things we do is train assistance dogs and provide animal assisted therapy and many of our clients depend on help for things like energy and food. If one of them is deprived of this they will not likely survive. These are people who have physical or emotional disabilities-some are veterans with very serious PTSD. Some are people who have been victimized and many have seen their perpetrators go free while they themselves suffer for their lifetime. None that I know want to be like this and would love to lead what they consider normal lives. They must have the assistance. I do not understand how Trump can just cut money for very basic needs.....like food.
This person in our White House has no idea how hard it is for these poor people to feed and take care of their family!Not everyone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth and if they need help feeding their families
there should be help for them. Why is this so hard for someone to understand? Not everyone is out to take advantage of the system and are in desperate need of help! Those that take advantage should be dealt with and made to pay the price, bu there are more good honest people out there and should not be punished for a few dishonest jerks!
I realize that there are people who abuse the system and take advantage of social services but so many people genuinely need the help so I could support something like annual reviews but not just eliminating the services.