Latest news with #foodstamps
New York Times
6 hours ago
- General
- New York Times
Trump Administration Backs Off Effort to Collect Data on Food Stamp Recipients
The Trump administration has backed off a demand that states hand over personal information about food stamp recipients in the face of a lawsuit brought by a coalition of public interest groups. An Agriculture Department official said in a sworn statement filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia over the weekend that the agency was pausing its plans, announced last month, to create a database of Americans who receive nutrition benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The move was a rare instance of the Trump administration proceeding cautiously amid litigation, relenting for now before potential intervention by a judge. The Agriculture Department released guidance outlining the federal government's intentions in May. The document referred to states and territories, which administer the program independently, as 'a SNAP information silo' and directed state agencies to begin providing personal data on recipients under an executive order that President Trump signed in March. The data the department would begin compiling from state administrators includes identifying details on recipients like home addresses, federal tax returns and Social Security numbers. A group of individuals and nonprofits quickly filed a lawsuit challenging the policy on personal privacy grounds, represented by lawyers from public interest groups including the Protect Democracy Project and the National Student Legal Defense Network. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘This is out of control'; SNAP benefits theft victims plead for help
MARSHALL COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — Food stamp benefits are the lifeline for thousands of families in the state of Alabama, but thieves are stealing that lifeline one account at a time. As many of us prepare to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend, thousands of others, like Deneise Allred, a working single mother, are trying to make ends meet. 📲 to stay updated on the go. 📧 to have news sent to your inbox. 'I have a job and I'm in college and I stay with my mom every now and then and I do what I have to do to survive,' Allred explained. 'I'm not out here begging and borrowing and stealing. I'm working hard to get where I'm at.' Allred relies on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to pay for groceries, but she told News 19 that this may be the third consecutive month that crooks have stolen her benefits money from her account. 'I spent $41 and change from it, and that following Sunday, which was two days prior, I went to get groceries, and when I got up to the register, there was nothing but .52 cents on my account. Someone from Brooklyn, New York, stole all my food stamps at 2:59 a.m.,' said Allred. Allred demanded answers from the Marshall County Department of Human Resources (DHR) about why her food stamps keep getting stolen. She and thousands of others were given the same answer from the state DHR: that there is nothing that they can do. The federal authority to replace SNAP benefits expired in December 2024, but DHR released its latest efforts to combat SNAP benefits fraud, announcing a new website and a secure mobile app for clients. 'The Food Assistance Division has worked tirelessly to implement these features for our clients to continue putting food on the table and feed their families without interruption,' a DHR spokesperson said. 'They need to protect us, that's what they are supposed to do,' replied Allred. DHR released a statement, which can be found below: Alabama DHR Announces ConnectEBT App (1)Download Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
23-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
Millions could lose food assistance under GOP's ‘big, beautiful bill,' CBO says
Millions of low-income Americans, including families with children, could lose their food stamp benefits under House Republicans' newly passed tax and spending cuts package, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Thursday. Others could see smaller monthly assistance. The analysis is the latest to show the impact of the historic cuts to the nation's safety net programs contained in the package, which aims to fulfill President Donald Trump's agenda. The legislation would provide trillions of dollars in tax cuts while slashing federal support for food stamps and Medicaid to help offset the cost. The package, however, is expected to undergo multiple changes in the Senate, where some lawmakers have already expressed concerns about the safety net provisions. As written, the bill would reduce federal spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, the official name for food stamps, by roughly $286 billion over the next decade, according to the CBO analysis, which was requested by Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig, ranking members of the Senate and House agriculture committees, respectively. House Republicans have said the measures are intended to 'restore integrity' to the program, which provides aid to roughly 42 million Americans. Among the most consequential and controversial provisions are expanding the program's existing work requirements to many older Americans, and, for the first time, to many parents. Also, states would have less flexibility in waiving these requirements during tough economic times. These measures would strip roughly 3.2 million people of their food stamp benefits in an average month over the next decade, CBO estimates. This includes 800,000 people who live with children ages 7 and older. States would have to share in the cost of the benefits for the first time, shouldering between 5% and 25% of the cost depending on their payment error rate. State responses would vary, but some 'would modify benefits or eligibility and possibly leave the program altogether because of the increased costs,' CBO projects. The provision would lead states to reduce or eliminate food stamp benefits for about 1.3 million people in an average month over the decade, CBO estimates. Also, subsidies for child nutrition programs would decrease for about 420,000 children during that period. Other measures in the bill, including capping annual increases in benefits, would also reduce monthly assistance. And a provision tightening eligibility for noncitizens would leave between 120,000 and 250,000 people without aid. CBO noted that the coverage loss projections are for each set of provisions individually and do not account for overlap in the people who could be affected. Its analysis does not provide an overall figure for how many people would lose access to food stamps. The House bill also calls for introducing the first-ever work requirement to Medicaid, which could leave millions of low-income Americans without health coverage, according to experts.
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Millions Could Lose Food Stamp Benefits Under Republican Bill, Analysis Finds
Millions of low-income Americans could lose access to food stamps or see reductions in their monthly benefits as a result of House Republicans' newly adopted tax bill, according to an analysis released Thursday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The findings underscore the significant trade-offs in the party's signature legislative package, which seeks to save money by cutting federal anti-poverty programs in a move that may leave some of the poorest Americans in worse financial shape. To save nearly $300 billion over the next decade, Republicans proposed a series of new rules that would tighten eligibility under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Under their bill, a wider range of aid recipients would be required to obtain work to qualify for federal help. Republicans say the change aims to reduce waste and ensure that the federal government provides food stamps only to the truly needy. They have similarly looked to expand work requirements to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Americans. Still, the work mandate could reduce participation in SNAP by more than three million people in an average month over the next decade, according to the budget office, which studied a version of the party's recently approved legislative package. Republicans also proposed to have states assume some of the costs for the federal food stamp program, an idea that has troubled some governors, who say their budgets cannot afford to shoulder the responsibility. As a result, congressional budget scorekeepers estimated the shift could result in an average of 1.3 million people losing access to SNAP. They attributed the reduction to the fact that some states may opt to 'modify benefits or eligibility or possibly leave the program altogether because of the increased costs.' Issuing its analysis, the budget office cautioned it could not produce one total, concise estimate of the number of people who could lose anti-hunger aid, given the possibility of overlap and the potential interactions with changes to other federal programs. Still, the budget office estimated that many of Republicans' proposed changes would reduce eligibility while cutting benefit amounts for those who do remain on the program. A small percentage of households could even see a roughly $100 reduction in their monthly allowance because of a provision that would change how some benefits are computed, according to the analysis.
Fox News
22-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
'Half a dozen' more states to ban soda, junk food purchases with food stamps, Trump Agriculture secretary says
Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) event Thursday that the Trump administration is making history with its approval of numerous waivers that will eliminate junk food from food stamp programs. Rollins was in Nebraska on Monday to sign the first alongside Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. She has also signed a waiver for Indiana and Iowa, "with half-a-dozen more coming down the line," she said. "We are on track to sign multiples of snap waivers to get junk food and sugary drinks out of our food stamp system," Rollins said at the Thursday afternoon event, centering around the release of a 69-page report from the Trump administration's MAHA Commission on how to effect change around childhood chronic disease. "That has never happened before under Republican or Democrat administrations," Rollins added. "We have never made that happen before. So I am so proud and so grateful." On average, 42 million low-income Americans receive food stamp assistance each month, according to the MAHA report released at Thursday's event. It added that 1 in 5 American children under 17 receive SNAP benefits. With Nebraska's waiver, it became the first state in the nation to bar recipients of federal food stamp programs from using the money to buy junk food, soda and other high-sugar items. The exemption will begin as a two-year pilot program, local media reported. Other GOP-led states, including Texas and West Virginia, have applied for this waiver. "SNAP was created to increase access to nutritious food; however, many SNAP purchases are for food with little to no nutritious value," Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott wrote in a letter to Rollins requesting a waiver last week. "Under the Trump administration, for the first time since the program was authorized, states can take steps to eliminate the opportunity to buy junk food with SNAP benefits and assure that taxpayer dollars are used only to purchase healthy, nutritious food." West Virginia's Governor Patrick Morrisey, one of the leaders requesting a waiver, has also been spearheading other MAHA efforts in his state. In March, Morrisey signed House Bill 2354 into law, which made it the first state in the nation to begin prohibiting certain synthetic dyes and additives used in food items sold in the state.
