It seems as though government aid has been continuously cutting back on major necessities for those in financial crisis, and the month to month decrease in food stamps set to start this November only proves so, hit the jump for more!
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be cutting back in its monthly supply of food stamp benefits; in result will be affecting the 47 million americans enrolled in the program. The root of the cutbacks comes after a letter was sent to recipients stating, “that a federal law called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the “stimulus package,” had given food stamp recipients a temporary boost in 2009.” The 2009 “boost” is “expiring” come November 1st, 2013.
The abrupt decrease in Food Stamps was not supposed to happen this way, in fact, The original plan called for the increase or “boost” to be set in place till, “inflation caught up through annual adjustments to SNAP benefit levels, which had been expected to happen in 2015.”
Yet it is presumed that the cut comes after, “congressional Democrats essentially raided the cookie jar, using the future planned spending to offset the cost of priority legislation in 2010.” The congress men vowed to put the money back before any changes in decrease would take effect, but it seems like many politicians, they as well have not kept to their promises.
To give you an idea of what the cutbacks will look like here’s an example: a family of four receiving full benefits will get $36 less, while single households will get $11 less. People receiving the minimum benefit, just $16, will receive $1 less, reports HP
63 year old SNAP recipient Pamela Gwynn of Indiana received the decrease in benefit, who relies on government assistance after having a series of brain surgeries in the 90’s causing her to go partially deaf. Gwynn did some calculating herself and saw that after the decrease she is left with .88 cents per meal!
“Eighty-eight cents won’t buy anything except a cup of ramen noodles,” “They just keep cutting and cutting. Eighty-eight cents — you cannot even buy a can of tuna for 88 cents,” stated Gwynn.
