Free Republic

Iowans on the food assistance program known as SNAP would have far fewer food purchasing options — not being able to use the benefits to buy meat, nuts or canned fruits and vegetables — under legislation proposed by Republican lawmakers. However, the bill may be amended eventually to include more foods, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley said. For the time being, the legislation as written — which has 39 House Republican sponsors, including Grassley — would limit SNAP program users to only foods eligible for users of WIC, the nutrition assistance program for expectant mothers. That means SNAP users would...

The Agriculture Improvement Act, known as the farm bill, is up for renewal this year and lawmakers will soon debate whether to extend key provisions that currently help 34 million people suffering from food insecurity in America. But in today’s divisive political environment, where 15 voting rounds are needed to elect a Speaker of the U.S. House, the likelihood that our leaders will reach a consensus on this important legislation, sadly, seems entirely unthinkable. The bill, which requires reauthorization every five years, historically provides funding for nutritional and anti-hunger programs for income-challenged Americans. The bill’s current term, which expires later...

(NEXSTAR) – Officials across several U.S. states are warning against a rise in scams that leave SNAP beneficiaries without any money in their account and no other way to buy groceries. One mom in Oklahoma didn’t realize she had been victimized until she tried to buy a $1 drink. Her EBT card was rejected for “insufficient funds,” Nexstar’s KFOR reported. She later found out someone had spent all $462 at a market in Brooklyn, New York. A single father of eight kids, also in Oklahoma, recently had $800 stolen from his account. “I don’t have that extra support. I can’t...

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) snapped at a reporter who asked if she intends to serve her full two-year term in Congress and refused to answer the reporter’s question. With Congress set to break for Christmas soon, Pelosi’s Thursday press conference could possibly have been her last press conference as a member of House leadership. Although Pelosi won reelection in the midterm election, she recently stepped down from House leadership to allow Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to serve as the House Democrat Leader in the next Congress.

Age is nothing but a bleepin’ number, according to President Biden. The oldest-ever commander-in-chief, who turned 80 last month, has “vented to allies” about how much the topic is discussed in the media as he sizes up a bid for a second term in 2024, Politico reported Tuesday. “You think I don’t know how #####$$ old I am?” an exasperated Biden — who reportedly has a penchant for profanity — ranted to one of his acquaintances earlier this year, according to the outlet.

Heather Campbell has been a military spouse for years. She walked away from a full-ride Ph.D. when she met her husband and later became a mother to three kids. Campbell was once even selected as Eielson Air Force Base spouse of the year but she also faced unemployment as the family moved to remote locations such as Alaska. As a result, Campbell, who is now a registered dietician, and her family joined the nearly 25% of military families this past year that struggled to feed themselves, according to the Department of Defense. "We get told to do more with less...

Food stamp benefits are increasing by 12.5 percent as families grapple with grocery prices that have skyrocketed under President Joe Biden. Under the maximum benefit, a family of four on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will see their payments increase from $835 to $939 per month.

The U.S. Army has released guidance for soldiers as they fight inflation, including a suggestion that they take advantage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. SNAP, a benefit for low-income Americans, is a program for which "service members and their families may be eligible," the guidance said, pointing soldiers and their families to the SNAP website and phone number. SNAP is one of several options discussed as part of the Army's Financial Readiness Program. "With inflation affecting everything from gas prices to groceries to rent, some Soldiers and their families are finding it harder...

Meta Platforms which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is seeing its stock go into freefall. The shares were more than 22% in lower in premarket trading Thursday. If the shares finish more than 18.96% lower in regular trading in the day ahead, it will be the worst one-day plunge for the stock in the company’s history. While sales came in ahead of estimates, earnings were weaker than expected and the group’s guidance was truly dismal: Revenue is expected to come in between $27 billion and $29 billion in the current quarter. Representing comparatively anemic annual growth of 3% to 11%,...

The tony, bucolic town of Dublin, Ohio would be one of the last places in America expected to host a convention of white supremacist militiamen. Nestled along the Scioto River, the Columbus suburb’s biggest claim to fame is hosting the PGA’s annual Memorial Golf tournament every summer.But in June 2020, days after the nation was roiled by Black Lives Matter looting and rioting, a man from Wisconsin named Stephen Robeson sponsored a “National Militia Conference” at a Dublin hotel. (Yes, that was the real name of the event.) According to BuzzFeed’s exceptional July 2021 investigative report on the FBI-led plot...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — More than 214,500 households across Connecticut will receive at least $95 in extra monthly food benefits beginning Friday, the state Department of Social Services announced on Tuesday. The additional benefits provided under the Emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP are expected to continue as long as there are declared state and federal public health emergencies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible households in Connecticut will receive the extra food aid on their Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT cards. Households that are already receiving the maximum monthly SNAP benefit will receive an extra $95. Those who...

In keeping with its penchant for increasing government dependence, the Biden administration recently announced it has greenlit the largest-ever increase for Americans on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. Under the revised SNAP guidelines, the 42 million Americans on SNAP will receive a 25 percent monthly increase. This means the average SNAP recipient will now receive $157 per month in benefits. According toTom Vilsack, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “I think the pandemic sort of shocked people out of the belief that this is a program that was for some others, somebody else,...

President Joe Biden joked he would easily achieve an infrastructure deal with Republican members of Congress on Wednesday, during a meeting with Congressional leadership. When asked by reporters about how compromise was achievable, Biden replied wryly, “Easy. Just snap my fingers. It will happen.”

Biden's American Family Plan would dole out free college, free child care, free meals, and more. But does the math add up? Nope.President Biden released the provisions of his American Family Plan last week, and just like with his American Jobs Plan, the details are scant and the price tag is high.Even given the limited details, the plans ought to give everyone pause — and by “everyone” I don’t just mean conservatives who oppose massive welfare state expansions, but also those who agree with the objective of an increase in the social insurance system in America. There are some serious...

Several years ago I would make a practice about once every few weeks of ridiculing some New York Times article or other. More recently, as Pravda has increasingly abandoned any pretense of being a news organization in favor of pure political advocacy, I haven’t bothered. But every once in a while, it is worth looking at one of their pieces to get some insights into how the progressive brain works. For today’s lesson, I select the article that appeared at the top right on the front page of the print edition on Monday April 5. (Top right of the front...

A Trump administration rule that would have tightened work requirements for food stamps was blocked by a federal judge on Friday, who cited the rapidly spreading coronavirus in her decision. D.C. District Court Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell granted a preliminary injunction blocking the new rule, which government estimates predicted would kick as many as 700,000 Americans off of food stamps. “Especially now, as a global pandemic poses widespread health risks, guaranteeing that government officials at both the federal and state levels have flexibility to address the nutritional needs of residents and ensure their well-being through programs like SNAP, is...

Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a scathing rebuke of the court's decision to allow the Trump administration to enforce its "public charge" rule in the state of Illinois, limiting which non-citizens can obtain visas to enter the U.S. Sotomayor's problems with the conservative majority's ruling went far beyond this case, claiming that it was symptomatic of the court's habit of siding with the government when they seek emergency stays of rulings against them. "It is hard to say what is more troubling: that the Government would seek this extraordinary relief seemingly as a matter of course, or that...

President Donald Trump likes to claim credit for the number of Americans who have stopped receiving food stamps since he entered office. In July 2018, he said 3.5 million had fallen from the rolls; the next spring, 5 million had. In his State of the Union speech this month, the number had grown to 7 million. Democrats say those figures only show Trump has pushed struggling Americans off public assistance by pressing to restrict eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and other programs. For now, the evidence supports Trump’s contention that an improving economy is more responsible for...

Indeed, the latest data from the Department of Agriculture shows that 7.7 million fewer Americans receive food stamps now than did when Trump entered the White House. The Agriculture Department administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, but the actual food stamp benefits are distributed by individual states.

On December 4, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a long-overdue and much-needed rule change to the nation’s beleaguered Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as “food stamps.” According to a USDA press release, “At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced a final rule to move more able-bodied recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) towards self-sufficiency and into employment. The rule restores the system to what Congress intended: assistance through difficult times, not a way of life.”In other words, the new rule aims to ensure that...