The House of Representatives approved last week a cut of five percent in the budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) a program which benefits over 47 million Americans--including many Hispanics
According to El Nuevo Herald, the measure was approved with 217 Republican votes in favor and 210 Democrat votes against, joined by 15 Republicans.
The initiative calls for the cutting of $4 billion annually ($39 billion in a decade) from the $80 billion marked to provide food support to 47 million Americans in need, among which are at least four million Hispanics.
It's a legislation that will severely punish poor Hispanic families in the United States. The most recent report on SNAP, published by the Department of Agriculture, reported that over 21 million families benefit from this program, especially in states with a large Hispanic population, according to El Diario NY.
The same source states that Hispanic homes represent an important segment of the program, with 468,000 people registered in California alone, while in New York the number of Hispanic beneficiaries is 435,000.
The program provides $133 a month as aid, mainly as food stamps, to prevent hunger at a domestic level in the country, which prompted specialists to criticize the measure.
For Robert Greenstein, analyst for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, quoted by El Diario NY, "Those who will be removed from the program include some of the poorest adults in the nation, as well as many children, elderly people and families working for low wages."
Likewise, the analyst considered that these provisions "will eliminate assistance for a large number of people that want to work and are looking for a job or training for one and have not been able to find a job in a weak job market".