More Pain for the Working Poor [View all]

[MindMover]

The House Agriculture Committee has approved an unconscionable farm bill that protects grossly generous subsidies for the agriculture industry by cutting food stamps by a staggering $16.5 billion over the next decade.

The cuts — more than triple the $4.5 billion approved in the Senate — would deny two million to three million people food assistance of $90 a month per family, end free school meals for 280,000 children and compound recession hardships for the working poor.

House Republicans drove the cuts with complaints that the food stamp program is swollen with people taking advantage of overly generous standards. This is a canard — the Congressional Budget Office has found that nearly 99 percent of food stamp participants live in poverty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/opinion/more-pain-for-the-working-poor.html?smid=tw-share

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An estimated 6 million people—2 percent of the US population—have no income other than food stamps.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002733836