COLUMBUS, Ohio – A farm bill currently stalled on Capitol Hill includes deep cuts to the federal food stamps program that could reduce benefits for over 1.8 million Ohioans, according to a report from a progressive think tank.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included a boost in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Act, expires this fall and House Republicans have proposed $40 billion dollars in cuts to the program, which data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says would mean a reduction of $36 a month for a family of four, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks said.
“It’s 21 fewer meals a month for a family of four leaving the average SNAP recipient with about a dollar forty per meal at a time when we’re seeing rapidly rising food costs,” she said.
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive advocacy group, has said the food-stamp program cost about $81 billion during the 2012 fiscal year.
Hamler-Fugitt says the reductions proposed by House Republicans will affect more than 850,000 Ohio households.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has proposed cutting the assistance by $40 billion over a decade. The Senate has passed its version of the farm bill and the House approved its bill last month, but did not include the food stamps program, after a vote on a comprehensive farm bill failed in June.
The June bill included $20.5 billion in proposed cuts to the food stamp program, twice the amount proposed during the farm bill debate, Hamler -Fugitt said.
She says that food assistance has a good impact on a struggling economy, because every dollar increase in aid generates about $1.70 in economic activity.