500,000 currently receiving food stamps will be ineligible April 1st

[Samantha]

Just saw this crawler under CBS News Channel 9. My first instinct was to just start crying. Now I am thinking, who do we hold accountable for this? Who do we call, who do we write?

This is outrageous.

Sam

[raging moderate]

1. Quick, everybody, donate money or canned goods to your local food pantry.

If you see somebody begging, give them something.

This is an emergency.

We all have to do something with real stuff.

Fast.

[Samantha]

3. I donate food to the local pantry but I can give more

But I am surprised at that number, and I do not remember hearing any advance discussion about this. Did you?

Sam

[MFM008]

12. some people cant get to a foodbank

especially older people or disabled, and the republicans dont give a rats ass if they starve.

[Miles Archer]

15. Able-Body Adult without Dependents

This is from an article on the changes in South Carolina. So "older people" over 50 don't appear to be affected. Not sure if this is across the boards or just in South Carolina. And if they're disabled, they're not an "Able-Body Adult without Dependents" at any age.

Small consolation, but in the context of your post, perhaps a bit of better news.

Starting April 1, any food stamp (SNAP) recipient who qualifies as an “able-body adult” will have to meet a work requirement to continue receiving those benefits.

An Able-Body Adult without Dependents, ABAWD, is anyone between the ages of 18 and 50 who has no dependents and is considered to be able-bodied, according to a statement from the Department of Social Services. The change affects 60,000 people in the state.

http://counton2.com/2016/03/04/food-stamp-requirements-change-in-sc/

[elljay]

17. And, may I add, check with your food bank first

to see what they need. Mine prefers money (they get better rates on bulk purchases) and proteins that can be opened without a can opener. Every community is different.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Article on this worth reading

http://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/more-than-500000-adults-will-lose-snap-benefits-in-2016-as-waivers-expire

[Samantha]

6. Yes, I have been reading it but I am going to have to do it in segments

I saw that map and my state, Maryland, is included. It does recommend giving more food to pantries. What is startling is that many of the people to be cut off have no other income. They are even cutting off vets! I find this outrageous -- all of it.

Sam

[jillan]

4. I cannot understand a society that takes food away from those that are hungry.

[Samantha]

7. Most of these people have no other income

This is outrageous.

Sam

[Hydra]

5. Why are people being culled in one of the richest countries in the world?? n/t

[daleanime]

8. Because money>people.....

[Hydra]

9. True Dat

No one is asking rich people to starve to death for the greater good. More's the pity.

[Samantha]

10. But yet in November of 2015 came this

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/11/09/us-security-aid-to-israel-may-increase-to-5-billion-a-year.html

U.S. security assistance to Israel may jump from just over $3 billion a year to possibly $5 billion under an agreement that may be nailed down this week during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington.

President Barack Obama on Monday morning met with Netanyahu at the White House, where the two discussed renewing the financial aid memorandum of understanding.

The original 10-year agreement guaranteeing Israel $3.1 billion annually expires in 2017 and Israel has reportedly asked that it be extended and increased to as much as $5 billion.

Why do we give away so much to other countries yet refuse to feed the hungry here?

Sam

[Maynar]

16. This. ^^

[2naSalit]

11. I don't get pphilosophy

of those who legislate such draconian budgets that are meant to punish the poor for being poor. It's the merikin way, though.... or so they say.

[Akamai]

13. You asked who should we hold accountable? My answer now, tomorrow etc. is the fucking Republicans!

Sorry to swear, but the fucking Republicans are evil from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. I am talking about both the leaders of the parties and the hacks that go along with them.

They have no heart, no soul, and they care not who they hurt. They should be on a distant planet far, far away.

The Republicans have been doing this for many years, in spite of the fact that food stamps really, really help the economy. As far as I can see they have two ends: to increase the wealth of the very rich, and to increase the troubles for all of the rest of us, because to do so will increase the opportunities for the very rich.

Go Bernie! Who has no use for them.

[JDPriestly]

18. Actually, if you read the article, this is part of a bill that BILL CLINTON signed in 1996.

One of the harshest pieces of the 1996 welfare law, this provision limits such individuals to three months of SNAP benefits in any 36-month period when they aren’t employed or in a work or training program for at least 20 hours a week. . . . .

The indigent individuals at risk are diverse.[3] More than 40 percent are women. Close to one-third are over age 40. Among those who report their race, about half are white, a third are African American, and a tenth are Hispanic. Half have only a high school diploma or GED, and one-quarter have not completed high school. They live in all areas of the country, and among those for whom data on metropolitan status are available, close to 40 percent live in urban areas, 40 percent in suburban areas, and over 20 percent in rural areas.[4]

. . . .

Under the 1996 welfare law, adults aged 18-49 who are not physically or mentally unfit for work or caring for a minor child are ineligible for SNAP if they have received three months of SNAP benefits while unemployed during the previous 36 months.[5] Months of SNAP receipt don’t count toward the limit if the individual is working at least half-time, participating in qualifying work or training program activities for at least 20 hours a week, doing workfare, or living in an area with high unemployment where the three-month limit is temporarily waived. When signing the welfare law in 1996, President Clinton singled out this as one of the bill’s most harmful provisions and called for it to be substantially changed.[6]

http://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/more-than-500000-adults-will-lose-snap-benefits-in-2016-as-waivers-expire

We have had a Democratic majority in the Senate and House since 1996, but our Democrats did not change this bill so that we could be sure that people have enough to eat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress

Hillary was in that Congress (the 110th Congress in the last year of the GWB administration) part of the time until 2008 but I am unaware of any attempt by her to correct the injustice of this welfare reform bill signed by her husband.

For shame.

[Samantha]

20. I just got back to DU and read your post -- thank you for this information

I will finish reading the article tomorrow but your info was really helpful. We need to make a hell of a fuss about this. Maybe Bernie Sanders can make an issue out of it. This needs to be changed asap and if not, let the public outcry begin. This is unbelievable.

Sam

[pediatricmedic]

23. You do realize half the states doing this are blue states, not just Republicans

[LarryNM]

14. About one half appear to be in their 20s

Will our nation provide them meaning and work in WPA and CCC Programs?
Or will they find this in certain organizations as we have seen recently in other countries?

[Kip Humphrey]

19. If you are one of the 500,000 slated for removal by starvation due to the republicons, vote Bernie.

please.

[Samantha]

21. I do support Bernie but I am wondering if he is aware of this and I contact his office

if he will make a huge stink about it. I think I am going to try.

Sam

[Samantha]

22. I just wrote to Senator Sanders and asked him if there was anything he could do about this

I filled out a form on his website and asked him to help. I included the link in JDPriestly's post.

I will let you know if his office responds.

Sam