The House and Senate recently passed a bill that will reduce Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, ultimately reducing the food stamp budget by approximately $8 billion over the next 10 years. The reduction comes under the Farm Bill, in which President Obama is expected to sign into law today at Michigan State University, according to the New York Times. The bill was put into place in an effort to reduce the Federal budget deficit and grow the economy.
While the bill—previously proposed with a $40 billion reduction—expands crop insurance for agribusiness, it consequently affects low income communities like Philadelphia.
As of September 2013, according to the Hunger Coalition, almost 700,000 in the Philadelphia region use SNAP to buy groceries. The bill is projected to hurt not only veterans, seniors and children, but minorities and women, too, as African Americans are twice as likely to receive food stamps as Whites and women twice as likely as men.
What this means for the Tri-State area: CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
