Congress Reviews SNAP

Congressional Republicans this week began a comprehensive review of the food stamp program  (SNAP) to determine what is working – and to eliminate what in their view is not – a move that could affect thousands of recipients in Connecticut. Doug Besharov, a University of Maryland professor, testified that food stamps and other social programs often provide a disincentive for the unemployed to find work who said, “The work-discouraging effect of safety-net programs should be neither surprising or controversial. Their very purpose is making getting a job less urgent”.

Even without Congressional action, thousands of unemployed Connecticut SNAP recipients may find they are no longer eligible after the end of the year—the state’s waiver from the requirement that “able-bodied" adults without dependents, work or be in a job training program for at least 20 hours a week to qualify for food stamps for more than 90 days in any three-year period expires at the end of the year, and Congress is not expected to extend it.

Read more about it in the CT Mirror's article, "Food stamp program under GOP microscope."