'Hunger cliff' looms in US as 32 states set to cut food benefits
Millions of Americans are facing a "hunger cliff," as more than thirty states plan to phase out emergency food stamp benefits next month, a report says.
The cuts, which will take effect in March, will impact more than 30 million people who are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) across 32 states, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
“This hunger cliff is coming to the vast majority of states, and people will on average lose about $82 of SNAP benefits a month," Ellen Vollinger, director for SNAP at the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), told CBS News."That is a stunning number."
"That means a family of four could see their monthly benefit cut by about $328 a month,” she said. “The worst-hit could be elderly Americans who receive the minimum monthly benefit.”
The SNAP payments would fall from $281 to as little as $23 per month, according to Vollinger.
Beginning in March 2020, SNAP was expanded to allow households to receive the maximum benefit, instead of income testing and allocating aid based on how much they earned.
Some 18 states had already ended their emergency allotments.
The remaining 32 states that have continued the additional aid are losing that extra money in March due to a provision in the 2023 Omnibus spending bill, signed into law in December, that directs the emergency allotments to end next month.
California and Texas — with 5.1 million and 3.6 million recipients, respectively — are among states that are facing imminent reductions in food benefits.
And New Mexico is home to the highest number of SNAP beneficiaries per capita, with more than 3 in 10 households currently receiving augmented food benefits.
Deputy director for SNAP at FRAC, Gina Plata-Nino, told CBS News, "You're going to see, as the months go along, more families being hungry, more people visiting food banks, and just seeing the terrible effects that this had on all of these people."
Analysts warn that many Americans continue to struggle with food insecurity, although inflation has been trending lower in the country. They say with food-stamp cuts being signed into law in December, neither states nor individuals have had much time to prepare.
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