Dear Editor,<\/p>\n
In regard to the current Farm Bill before the House and the effect it has on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as Food Stamps) Representative Reed in a May 23 letter states:<\/p>\n
Programs such as SNAP provide much needed assistance to those families that have fallen on hard times. That is why I supported the FY18 Agriculture Appropriations bill that passed the House of Representatives in September 2017. The Farm Bill does not cut funding for the SNAP. Under the bill, SNAP maintains the same funding level that it received in the previous Farm Bill. While this bill would require SNAP recipients to spend twenty hours each week working or attending job-training classes, there would be no reduction in current funding levels. (emphasis added)<\/i><\/p>\n
HOWEVER, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states on July 30: The [Farm] bill contains changes that would cause more than 1 million low-income households with more than 2 million people \u2014 particularly low-income working families with children \u2014 to lose their benefits altogether or have them reduced. The House would use these benefit cuts, in part, to pay for a few modest benefit enhancements. But the net effect of all these provisions on SNAP benefits would still be a significant cut overall, and a substantial number of people would lose their SNAP benefits altogether. The remaining savings from the eligibility and benefit cuts would go to expanding state and federal bureaucracies and financing various grant programs outside of SNAP, at the expense of low-income families and individuals whose basic food assistance would end or shrink.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wouldn\u2019t it be helpful to have some clarification from Rep. Reed about this substantial difference, or is this just a \u201cword-game?\u201d<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n Leonard B. Bjorkman<\/p>\n Owego, N.Y.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Editor, In regard to the current Farm Bill before the House and the effect it has on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n