Federal Judge Rejects Trump Administration’s Proposal to Reduce Foodstamps

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U.S. Federal Judge Beryl Howell struck down a Trump administration rule that would reduce food stamp benefits to nearly 700,000 people. The judge stated on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020, that implementing the change “radically and abruptly alters decades of regulatory practice, leaving states and exponentially increasing and insecurity for tens of thousands of Americans.”

In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Program — still commonly known as the food stamp program, provides food-purchasing assistance for low and no-income people.

To even discuss food stamps, one must understand what it means, any of the coupons formerly sold or given under a federal program to low-income Americans and redeemable for food, as at grocery stores or markets — replaced by electronically deposited benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.

A formalized proposal for work requirements for recipients of food stamps, formerly known as the Agriculture formalized this proposal in December 2019.

This was not the first time Howell ruled against the proposal. In March, she issued a preliminary injunction against the rule that also referred to the food security threat used by the then-burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal Judge Howell wrote in her ruling on Sunday to the department which administers the food stamp program, has not relayed how many people would be affected by its proposed reduction in benefits. She added that one estimate from May 2020 found, “SNAP rosters have grown by over 17 percent with over 6 million new enrollees.”

Written by Teleza Rodgers
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware

Source:

NBC News Article: Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Proposed Food Stamp Cutback for 700,000 Americans; by Tim Fitzsimons

Featured and Top Images Courtesy of St. Agatha’s Flickr Page- Creative Common License

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