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The Republican bill would hold those who intentionally make illegal purchases under the law to existing penalties for violations including making false statements on forms. A first violation is a one-year suspension, the second is two years, and the third is a lifetime ban. Democrats have said that is too harsh for a violation as small as buying a pack of cigarettes. In their version, the penalty for a first violation would be restitution, the second would be a maximum three-month suspension, and it would be a six-month maximum for subsequent violations. Advocates of the bill have said the department...

MADISON COUNTY, MS (Mississippi News Now) - Thousands of Mississippians receiving food stamp benefits no longer qualify for them under new government requirements. The new policy requires that single people between the ages of 18 and 49 who are able to work put in at least 20 or more hours on the job, volunteer, or enroll in a job-training program. While many folks admit they are not happy about this change, Food banks are bracing for the large number of low income families in need. "I thought it was rude and mean," said Mary Riley Walker. "You say if we...

There used to be a rule in place – part of the sadly abandoned movements toward welfare reform in the 80s and 90s – which required food stamps recipients to do at least some work in order to receive the benefits if they were childless and able bodied. That rule was suspended in most places since the beginning of the crash in 2007, but now that unemployment is allegedly back down to nominal levels and the economy is “stable” across most of the country, that exception is being rolled back. This, of course, has liberals up in arms. (WaPo) The...

About 45 million people receive benefits in the food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning research and advocacy group, estimates that 500,000 to 1 million people will lose benefits this year. The federal Food and Nutrition Service said many adults would need to take steps to meet work requirements or risk losing aid. . . . Ellen M. Vollinger, legal director of the Food Research and Action Center, an advocacy group, noted that the poet T.S. Eliot had described April as "the cruelest month," and...

The [PA] state Department of Human Services will pay about $390,000 a year to rent space in Liberty Place for its newly opened call center there, a state official said Monday. . . . The call centers field calls from consumers seeking or receiving various types of public assistance. Consumers typically call to report changes in their address, income or household, to request replacement of EBT (electronic benefits transfer) cards and to inquire about the status of an application for benefits.

Before voting nay, Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence, said she supported the thrust of the bill, but felt — as the state's director of human services does — that the proposed penalties are too harsh. First offense: a one-month reduction in benefits; second offense: a three-month reduction in benefits. Anyone caught three times would be disqualified from the direct cash assistance program for a year.

(Colorado) Between May and November last year, 5,000 welfare recipients withdrew taxpayer money more than 10,000 times at casinos, liquor stores and pot shops despite a new state law requiring agencies to block the abuse, officials told lawmakers Tuesday. The numbers, which show 9,204 withdrawals at liquor stores, 40 at racing establishments, 134 at marijuana shops and 737 at casinos are higher than the numbers Watchdog.org found in a similar six-month period in 2014, when we wrote stories that sparked the legislation. But Watchdog.org’s analysis was conservative and excluded many venues that sell both food and liquor, like Sam’s Clubs....

President Barack Obama responded to reports of slow job growth Friday by blaming Republicans who have opposed parts of his economic agenda. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report found the economy added 242,000 new jobs in February. The latest number highlights a long-running trend of slow, yet positive, economic growth. Obama credits the growth to his agenda but its slowness to Republicans for their opposition to his plan. “The plans that we have put in place to grow the economy have worked,” the president declared in the Oval Office. “They would work even faster if we did not have...

Aldi, the Germany-based no-frills supermarket chain, says it will now accept credit cards as it tries to attract more shoppers. Aldi had previously just accepted cash and debit cards. The move, announced Tuesday, should put more pressure on chains like Target, Wal-Mart and others. ...

Despite the unemployment rate being at an eight-year low (4.9 percent as of January 2016), the number of people on food stamps remains near an all-time high which was 47,636,000 in 2013. Why the disparity in the numbers? Well, the unemployment rate does not take into account people who are not in, or have dropped out of, the workforce altogether. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in January of this year that approximately 94 million Americans are not participating in the workforce. But the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been hovering around 46 million participants since 2011. ...

Friends who own resort hotels dependent on high season occupancy on the West Coast tell me the same story over and over...Locals 'pretend' to apply for a job, so that they can check the 'Job Search' box on their unemployment requirement. They call by phone, hang up and are no shows for interviews. Or, they show up stoned. Or, they only want to work enough hours so that they don't 'ruin' their benefits....they actually say this. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the issue at hand. They 'pretend' to look for work, while the Employment Office 'pretends'...

Welfare fraud is an expensive problem that taxpayers everywhere are paying for, but in Missouri there is a movement in the state legislature to help stop the fraud. State Representative Marsha Haefner has filed legislation that “will allow the Department of Social Services to contract with a third party vendor and establish a eligibility verification system.” This is a central component of the Stop the Scam reforms being implemented recently in several other states. Modern technology allows multiple databases to be compared and can determine if people who are signed up for welfare services are actually qualify for taxpayer funded...

Retailers that accept food stamps would have to start stocking a wider variety of healthy foods or face the loss of consumers under proposed rules expected to be announced by the Agriculture Department on Tuesday. The rules are designed to ensure that the more than 46 million Americans who use food stamps have better access to healthy foods although they don't dictate what people buy or eat. A person using food stamp dollars could still purchase as much junk food as they wanted, but they would at least have more options in the store to buy fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats...

More than 1 million low-income residents in 21 states could soon lose their government food stamps if they fail to meet work requirements that began kicking in this month. The rule change in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was triggered by the improving economy - specifically, falling unemployment. But it is raising concerns among the poor, social service providers and food pantry workers, who fear an influx of hungry people. Recent experience in other states indicates that most of those affected will probably not meet the work requirements and will be cut off from food stamps. ...

Law enforcement officers in Polk County, Florida have arrested 11 people for using stolen Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. The arrests were made as the result of a year-long investigation.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard says a measure to require some welfare applicants to pass drug tests would be a waste of money and "somewhat insulting." Daugaard said Friday that he hasn't previously been enthusiastic about similar proposals. Republican Rep. Lynne DiSanto is the measure's main House sponsor. Her plan would require applicants under 65 to be drug tested before receiving food stamps or cash assistance.

Missouri Department of Social Services eligibility specialist Pamela O’Dell faces criminal charges after she went on a shopping spree with $52,000 worth of food stamps she stole, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

VIDEO: Woman Finds Out She's Approved For Welfare A video has been leaked on the internet which perfectly captures what life is like in President Barack Obama's America. Watch (below) as the woman reads a letter about welfare as if she might be winning the lottery. She opens it excitedly as she tells her children to leave her alone. At first, she can't understand what the letter means, but ultimately decides she's officially eligible to recieve taxpayer-funded benefits from the state. Another welfare queen who refuses to work. This is outrageous and is going viral! Watch before they take it...

The number of people receiving welfare cash assistance from the state has plummeted since Gov. Rick Snyder took office, partly due to the improved economy but also because the state now enforces a limit on how long beneficiaries could receive cash benefits. There were 227,490 people receiving cash assistance benefits from the state in 2011. As of August 2015, that number was down to 64,492. The state welfare agency's Family Independence Program provides temporary cash assistance to pregnant women and families with children. The program also attempts many interventions to get people employed in long-term jobs. From 2005 to 2011,...

New data released by the Department of Agriculture Oct. 9 shows the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, with enrollment exceeding 45 million for 51 straight months. The population of Canada: 34,834,841. “Between 2007 and 2011, new eligibility rules by themselves added 3.4 million people to SNAP enrollment and naturally tended to increase SNAP spending. At the same time, SNAP began to pay more generous benefits to people who enrolled,” Casey Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday. The growing SNAP population is a far cry from the 2.8 million enrolled...