Food Stamp Cuts Coming

By Sean Stillmaker in News on Aug 7, 2010 3:00PM

The Great Recession continues on and one of the effects in Illinois is a record number of families receiving food stamps. The Illinois Department of Human Services states an all time record of more than 780,000 families received food stamps in June, an increase of 11.9 percent over last year, the Associated Press reports. Nationally over 40 million Americans use food stamps. Despite this increase, these families may be cut off from their support with the passage of a new bill to save the means of others.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would provide $26 billion to states to help avoid teacher layoffs and cover Medicaid bills. However, to pay for this, $6.7 billion is being cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and food stamp benefits will return to the pre-Recovery Act levels effective March 2014. The House is expected to vote in favor of the bill this week before the August recess. Americans on food stamps are currently averaging only $4.50 a day.