The nutrition provisions of the farm bill that the Conference Committee released last night ensure that millions of struggling families and individuals will continue to be able to count on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help put food on the table…
IN WASHINGTON these days, bad outcomes that could have been worse count as victories. Case in point: the emerging House and Senate agreement on another five-year extension of federal farm programs.
The House and Senate versions of the 2018 Farm Bill differ on proposed changes to
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The House version (H.R.2,
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018) would, among other things, change how
SNAP agencies determine total SNAP benefits for households. Specifically, the bill
would change the way agencies account for earnings and housing expenses when calculating
a household’s benefit. The Senate version leaves these provisions untouched.
Two Ohio House and Senate committees met earlier this month to discuss a pair of bills that Athens County Job & Family Services and others warn will harm the state’s SNAP food stamp administration program’s ability to help feed Ohio’s most vulnerable citizens, especially those in Appalachia...
Almost 1.4 million veterans live in households that participate in SNAP (formerly food stamps), CBPP analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey finds.[1] In every state, thousands of low-income veterans use SNAP to help put food on the table. Florida has the largest number of veterans participating in SNAP (120,000), followed by California and Texas (97,000 apiece). In Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., at least 10 percent of veterans live in households that received SNAP in the last year.
A prevailing misconception among the general public in the United States has been that participation in public assistance programs is dominated by racial minorities. In fact, minority groups have historically accounted for no more of the public assistance caseloads than white families. However, racial and ethnic minorities do have higher rates of participation in these programs than white families do, as these groups face higher rates of poverty than white families. The higher percentage of racial and ethnic minorities receiving assistance may fuel the perception that these groups are overrepresented in government benefit programs.
Margaret Sheskey flipped the sign for the Nelsonville Food Cupboard from “OPEN” to “CLOSED” and stared at the charity’s tall, empty shelves. At the beginning of the day, they were packed with free food. Now, the only things left were spray canisters of Pam, a stray packet of Alka-Seltzer, three bags of powdered milk, some dried plums and a dozen cans of cranberry sauce. Everything else had been pulled off the shelves by some of southeastern Ohio’s poorest residents, who came to this place when they had no options left.
There is significant variation among states’ SNAP web pages and their online services. Some states provide a simple description of the program on their agency’s website. Others offer applications, benefit calculators, pre-screening tools, detailed program operation instructions for caseworkers, known as “policy manuals,” and copies of program memoranda to eligibility workers that describe policy changes to the program. By making all of these materials readily accessible to the public, states can facilitate an improved understanding of SNAP.
A popular program to help feed the hungry is coming under fire after a non-profit group in Cleveland uncovers a racial disparity when it comes to securing SNAP benefits. New findings by the Center for Community Solutions shows 26 counties in Ohio are exempt from the work requirement, but 97 percent of the people living in those counties are white.
Learn how a $3.5 million investment from the Walmart Foundation helped provide millions of meals and innovative solutions to address childhood hunger in Ohio.
There are more children living in food insecure households in Ohio than in most other states. One fifth of children in Ohio lived in a household where there was uncertainty of having, or an inability to acquire, enough food for all household members from 2013 to 2015.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides approximately US$70 billion annually to support food purchases by low-income households, supporting approximately 1 in 7 Americans. In the 2018 Farm Bill, potential SNAP revisions to improve diets and health could include financial incentives, disincentives, or restrictions for certain foods. However, the overall and comparative impacts on health outcomes and costs are not established. We aimed to estimate the health impact, program and healthcare costs, and cost-effectiveness of food incentives, disincentives, or restrictions in SNAP.
Since the War on Poverty in the 1960s, federal funds to help revitalize coal country have poured in from Washington, D.C. And in recent years, a new federal push has brought millions of dollars worth of funding to projects that are intended to create jobs and retrain people in coal country for work in other fields. There are also a number of state initiatives to help generate job growth. But have these projects worked?
We look at how the need for SNAP is actually moving to more rural areas. Then, OPEC members met over the weekend and decided not to boost oil pumping. What does that mean going forward?
Researchers at Mathematica Policy Research published a brief last week summarizing an analysis that shows the impact of certain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) provisions in the House-passed Farm Bill. The analysis concluded that changes to countable resources and how states consider “broad-based categorical eligibility” in SNAP would result in 2 million fewer recipient households.
Some 15 million households with 40 million people struggled to afford enough food at some point in 2017, new Agriculture Department data show. That’s about 11.8 percent of households that experienced food insecurity — those in which some members struggled to afford adequate nutritious food at some point during the year.
Nearly two million low-income Americans, including 469,000 households with young children, would be stripped of benefits under the House version of the farm bill being considered this week by congressional negotiators, according to an analysis by a nonpartisan research firm.
With a deadline looming and pressure on lawmakers escalating, a large bipartisan, bicameral conference committee gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday for the first formal negotiations of the Farm Bill.
CONAWAY OFFERS SNAP COMPROMISE: House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway submitted a comprehensive farm bill proposal to his Senate counterparts last week that made what he described as “significant compromises” on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program...
Before the current farm bill expires on September 30, House and Senate conferees will sit down and try to put the finishing touches on a new, thousand-page bill that speaks to all aspects of the nation’s agriculture policy, from farm subsidies to crop insurance to conservation programs. But the legislation, now nearly four years in the making, could be derailed by work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (snap)—also known as the food-stamp program—some of which food and nutrition experts have described as an “assault” on poor families.
Ohioans who qualify for federal food assistance will gain greater access to fruits and vegetables, thanks to a $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The farm bill reauthorization, the $900 billion, behemoth package of legislation that spans agriculture, nutrition and the environment, is currently winding its way through Congress. Soon, leaders from both chambers will hammer out differences in their respective versions of the bill, with SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, likely to be among the main points of contention. Lawmakers hope to have the details figured out before September 30, when the current farm bill runs out.
As Congress moves forward with its consideration of the 2018 Farm Bill in the weeks ahead, the U.S. House and Senate will have to reconcile their differences on a range of agriculture, nutrition, conservation, and forestry policy issues contained within the landmark legislation. However, many observers believe the most contentious farm bill issue still on the table is whether to further expand the work requirements on those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly the Food Stamp Program) benefits.
On Aug. 2, 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced an award of $2,276,890 to Produce Perks Midwest to expand the Produce Perks program, increasing affordable access to healthy, local produce for the 1.4 million Ohioans receiving SNAP. The award, along with matching funds contributed by Produce Perks Midwest and partners from across the state represent a $4.6 million commitment to food insecure families, Ohio farmers, and local economies.
On May 18th members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a draft farm bill which eliminates the Conservation Stewardship Program- the most comprehensive conservation program for working farmlands in the country, includes major changes to the food assistance program which may increase food insecurity for more than 1 million low-income households , opens the door to unlimited subsidies – even for those not actively involved in farming, eliminates all funding for the Organic Cost-Share program and local and regional food systems investments.
National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs to Provide Funding to Avoid Shutdown of Novo Dia Group and Prevent Disruption in SNAP Processing The National Association of Farmers Market Nutrition Programs is stepping in to stave off shutdown in SNAP processing at farmers markets across the country.
WASHINGTON, July 14, 2018 - In response to the recent news about access to farmers markets for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Brandon Lipps offers the following statement:
