The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP would be reduced by 5% per month beginning Friday, November 1. The move came as the 2009 temporary expansion to the SNAP would end. According to the Associated Press, the cut would mean a reduction of USD 36 per month for a family with four members.
On Wednesday, negotiations started in Congress on the five-year farm bill. The negotiations would include further reductions on food stamps. Aside from proposing stricter eligibility requirements, the House also proposed to cut food stamps by USD 4 billion a year. However, the Senate farm bill version favored lesser reductions to the SNAP.
In an article which appeared on the website Mother Jones on October 25, Christopher D. Cook wrote that food stamps have hidden economic benefits. Citing the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Department of Agriculture, Cook wrote that each USD 5 of food stamps would generate as much as USD 9 in economic activity. The article also added that 3,300 farm jobs resulted from every USD 1 billion of retail food demand.
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