An American 2023 safety net ends…..
The secret part of the pandemic is the support it enabled the government help it’s citizens pay for food…
Republican lawmakers have fought money for the poor for ever….
That affects people that the media does NOT focus on…
Those families will have to cope, which IS the Republican credo….
They will be on their own….
And some of these peopel will actually vote to support lawmakers that ARE cutting their benefits….
The linked part below is about Rual Kentucky…..
The latest cuts to one of the nation’s vital social safety net programs will limit how much food an estimated 31 million Americans will be able to afford each month, testing whether the Biden administration and state leaders can take away assistance without exacerbating a growing food insecurity crisis.
Over the past year, 18 states, including Kentucky, ended official states of emergency and rescinded the covid food benefit. For the other 32 states as well as the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, Congress mandated in December that the extra help sunset in March.
The pullback of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programbenefits is part of a broader effort by the government to unwind some of the billions of dollars spent to help protect jobs or boost incomes for Americans during the pandemic. Over the past 18 months, the federal government has halted enhanced unemployment benefits and ended pandemic-era child tax credits. It is in the process of rolling back an adjustment to Medicaid that boosted enrollment, putting millions of Americans at risk of losing coverage.
Collectively, the return to pre-pandemic policies could pose a setback to President Biden’s efforts to slash poverty while building a healthier and more sustainable middle class.
“We saw positive benefits from this and less hardship, including for families with children,” said Dottie Rosenbaum, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who noted there was a steep decline in childhood poverty rates in 2021. “We can expect that to reverse now.”
For those waiting in line for food in Kentucky, the last year has been jarring. Some said they can now only afford to eat once a day. Others limit expensive items like meat for specific family members like growing teenage boys. All described feeling hunger…
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Authorized by Congress in the early months of the covid crisis, the emergency SNAP allotments allowed 41 million recipients to receive an increase in food stamp benefits, helping families at a time when businesses were shuttering, schools closed and uncertainty abounded.
The extra cash for groceries varied based on considerations such as income level and amount of aid received before the pandemic hit, but all were entitled to the maximum allowance for their particular situation. For many families, that translated to significantly fuller grocery carts. Even recipients receiving the largest monthly benefit available before the pandemic were granted an extra $95 a month.
The average SNAP recipient’s benefits are expected to be cut about $90 per month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. An even greater reduction is looming for many senior citizens and the working poor who get assistance from other government programs and will qualify for less.
Many senior citizens on food stamps in Kentucky saw their monthly food benefit drop from $281 to $22 last year after the state emergency ended in May, according to Feeding Kentucky, a network of local food banks.
With Kentucky serving as a warning beacon, social services agencies and charities across the country are now preparing for a summer of misery as food prices continue to soar due to inflation….
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Although Tolsen had food again, he drove away questioning whether his government really cared about him.
“I know everyone was happy to get that stimulus, but they didn’t realize there is going to be a payday, and we are paying for it now,” he said. “How did the government give us anything when they let inflation get so high we can’t live and we are going to starve out?”
image…Free food is distributed at the Hazel Green Food Project….Reshma Kirpalani/The Washington Post