Food Stamp Cuts Take Effect, Over 47 Million Needy Americans Affected

Cuts to food stamp recipients take effect Friday in a move by Congress to save $5 billion from the program. The food stamp program currently helps one in seven Americans put food on the table. 

Margaret Puvis, the president of the Food Bank for New York City, expects that the cuts will draw more people to organizations that provide 400,000 meals a day to hungry individuals in the city, according to NBC News. 

"Our members are panicking," she said, as it got closer to when the decreases take effect. "We're telling everyone to make sure that you are prepared for longer lines."

Americans who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are expected to suffer a loss of around $36 a month from a $275.13 per household benefit. There are 47.6 million Americans on the program, representing 23.1 million households. The cost of the program will rise to $63.4 billion in 2013.

SNAP funding built into President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus bill is coming to a halt, which has led to the cuts. In the past years, a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans have voted for cuts to take effect in exchange for increased funding for education and school nutrition programs. 

On Tuesday, a group of Democratic lawmakers opposed to the cuts demanded that the funding be reinstated. 

"It was a piece of legislation that said let's change nutrition standards, let's get junk foods out of our schools, and let's make sure that our kids can have those fruits and vegetables," Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro said regarding the nutrition bill.

"There was no money for it (the nutrition bill). The price of it was $2.2 billion. That came from the food stamp program and all of us here complained," the congresswoman said. "And we were opposed to that but we knew that it was a good first step in getting the Hunger-Free Kids Act."

The cuts will have direct effects for SNAP families living in New York City as well as individuals well beyond the five boroughs. "This isn't just a New York issue," Purvis said. "In the world of hunger relief, food stamps are supposed to be the first line of defense."

Amira Watson, a working single mother of four from Brooklyn, has to sign up for food stamps after her marriage ended and she lost one of her two jobs. Watson is worried that the SNAP benefits will not be enough to feed her four children, who range in age from three months to 15-years-old. "The job is good with medical benefits but not with the paycheck," she said. "I'm always in the hole with bills. If I pay the rent I'm sacrificing the light, if I pay the light bill I'm sacrificing the gas bill. It's always something."

"Thank God for the food pantry and the Campaign Against Hunger," she continued. "While I'm waiting for all this processing - glitches here and glitches there - thank God I could go there and shop for some food. I got some baby milk for my newborn, got rice, got a nice amount of stuff that will sustain us until something comes up."

SNAP participation has doubled over the past 10 years, and over 25 percent over the past four as the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen. 

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 87 percent of the nearly 48 million who will be affected by the cuts live in households with children, seniors or people with disabilities. 

The Center contends that a household of three, such as a mother and two children, will lose $29 a month, a total of $319 for November 2013 through September 2014, which is equivalent to 16 meals a month for a family of three. Without the boost from the Recovery Act, or stimulus plan, the SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2014 will average less than $1.40 per meal. 

Many impoverished families will be hit by the cuts; more than 80 percent of SNAP households have monthly income below half of the poverty line. 

The benefits cuts will affect all households that receive SNAP, and households in every state will be affected. Nationally, 21 million children receive SNAP benefits, in more than 30 states and the District of Columbia. Nine million seniors and people with disabilities also receive SNAP assistance. 

The November cut will decrease millions of dollars in revenue for every state, which helps boost state economies as well as enable needy families to put food on the table. Every dollar of SNAP benefits creates at least $1.70 in economic activity, because SNAP recipients spend their benefits on food almost right away. Big states like California and Texas will each lose over $400 million in SNAP benefits.

It is estimated that the overall economic hit from the cuts will be around $10 billion.