COLUMBUS, Ohio – Nearly 2 million Ohioans who get federal food stamps will see a decrease in their benefits Friday, when a temporary boost to the anti-hunger program expires.
The cuts come even as Congress debates further reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as part of a new farm bill.
The 1.9 million Ohioans who use food stamps will see those benefits fall by $36 per month for a family of four with the expiration of a temporary increase that was included in the 2009 stimulus package, says Joree Jacobs, director of communications of Ohio Association of Foodbanks.
“That’s something that normally would have gone to pay the for rent or mortgage, to pay the electric bill, to pay for doctor’s visits or expensive prescriptions, rising fuel costs to get to work every day. $36 a month means a lot to these families.”Jacobs said.
Food stamp cuts are already a part of the farm bill, which is being debated by a House-Senate conference committee. The bill has become a partisan battleground as House Republicans have targeted food stamps for large reductions, opposed by Democrats like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.
“The choice is clear: do House conferees want to pass the farm bill rural America desperately needs or do they intend to hold up this bill by insisting that we make life even harder for people who are unemployed and down on their luck?” Brown said in his opening statement to the committee.
Brown is one of two Ohioans on the panel. He and Cleveland’s Marcia Fudge, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, are expected to argue against the GOP’s cuts, which are ten times the size of those backed by Democrats.
The plan approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate would cut $4.5 billion to SNAP benefits over 10 years while the House version calls for $39 billion over the same period.
Jacobs says the proposed changes would hurt children, seniors, veterans, and the disabled.
Food-stamp spending reached a record $78.4 billion in fiscal 2012, the result of a 77 percent increase in annual enrollment since 2007.