Starting today, some 48 million Americans on SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps, will see their monthly benefits drop. President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package beefed up SNAP benefits, and the cuts going into effect today will reduce spending by $5 billion in the 2014 fiscal year, and $6 billion across the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, according to the New York Times.
Cuts to SNAP, arguably the most effective safety net offered by the government, could affect local grocers and small businesses. It’s not just about grocery shopping, though — the extra scratch from SNAP helps lift some families out of poverty.
“SNAP is one of our most important anti-poverty programs in the United States,” Parke Wilde, an associate professor in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, told me in September. “When you ask about the effect on cities, it’s not just about food retail, but about poverty in general.”
How much recipients will lose is commensurate with the size of their family. A family of four will see their benefits drop from $668 to $632, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In the grand scheme of things, $36 might not seem like that much. But it comes out to $432 at the end of the year, a significant chunk of cash for families already hovering around the poverty line.
The cuts will be felt across the country, but in cities — with their high levels of concentrated poverty — they will reverberate with particular force in hundreds of neighborhoods.
These cuts are separate from the stalemate in Congress, where representatives as usual stand far apart on the issue. The Republican-controlled House farm bill looks to slash $39 billion from SNAP over the next decade, while the Democratic-controlled Senate only cuts $4 billion.
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Bill Bradley is a writer and reporter living in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in Deadspin, GQ, and Vanity Fair, among others.