skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

SNAP Recipients Urge Compassion In Farm Bill

play audio
Play

Friday, May 4, 2018   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As Congress considers a farm bill that imposes stricter requirements on people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, those who say they are simply trying to get back on their feet claim the changes will make things worse for families experiencing hunger.

According to data from the Missouri Budget Project, one in eight Missourians benefit from SNAP – formerly Food Stamps – which is authorized through the farm bill.

Jefferson City resident Amy Rogers says SNAP helped her get back on her feet after a series of unfortunate events resulting in her losing her job and ability to support her family. She says even with degrees in computer information systems and a foreign language, it takes time to find work.

"With no work, I have to do SNAP, and without SNAP, I have no food,” says Rogers. “The legislators there in Washington, they need to take a really hard look at just exactly who is on SNAP, case by case basis."

Those in support of stricter work requirements claim it targets people who make a life out of living on public assistance. Others say that view is shortsighted considering people such as Rogers and the nearly 500,000 Missourians living in hunger.

The issue of public assistance has long been controversial and partisan in Washington.

Jeanette Mott Oxford is the executive director of Empower Missouri, which advocates for the well-being of all Missourians. She says data shows the people who are on SNAP are either low-income or simply unable to secure basic needs such as food and shelter. In addition to the working poor, Oxford says that many SNAP recipients face other challenges.

"Most people on SNAP are either senior citizens who have had a long, decades-long history of working or people with disabilities who may may work to the best of their abilities but perhaps cannot work full-time because of the mental or physical health challenges that they have," says Oxford.

Under the House Agriculture Committee's Farm Bill proposal, adults age 18 through 59 who are not disabled or raising a child younger than 6 would be required to prove they have worked at least 20 hours per week. If they fail to meet the new requirements, they would face a "sanction" resulting in the loss of their SNAP assistance for a full 12 months.

Oxford says the changes would cost the state millions more money to implement while putting families at risk of losing access to nutritional food.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021