In 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) which created a federal lifetime ban on benefits from SNAP for individuals convinced of drug-related felonies. State legislatures have the option to modify the terms of this ban or to opt out of the provision altogether. Download PDF.
Education & Human Services
Beckley Register-Herald - Last month, in a major victory for West Virginians, Congress passed a farm bill that protects the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps thousands in our state, and millions across the country, put food on their tables. Read article. The final, overwhelmingly bipartisan bill rejected harmful cuts and changes to SNAP…
Earlier this week, nearly 100 West Virginians, including farmers, educators, advocates and food pantry representatives, gathered in Buckhannon to address solutions to hunger in the Mountain State. The Food for All Summit was hosted by the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy and other partners to focus…
On Monday, we will celebrate the service and sacrifice of American Veterans. Here at the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, we think no one in America should go hungry, especially not our veterans once they return home to West Virginia. So we're calling on Congress to support and pass a farm bill that…
Food for all. It's a simple concept most of us among West Virginia's hills agree with. No one should go hungry. That's why the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition and other partners are holding a one-day food summit - Food For All - to gather those across the…
West Virginia's inadequate public investment in higher education over the last decade has contributed to rising tuition prices, often leaving students with little choice but to take on more debt or give up on their dreams of going to college, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report released today. The problem is especially serious…
A decade since the Great Recession, state spending on higher education has yet to recover from years of deep cuts, including in West Virginia, according to a new report released today from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. West Virginia was one of 45 states that spent less per student in the 2018 school year than in 2008.…
Despite the rosy rhetoric, everything is not okay in West Virginia. Unemployment remains stubbornly high compared to the rest of the country, and, even as Appalachian counties overall seem to be on the rebound, West Virginia is not so lucky. We have seen a net increase in economic insecurity,with multiple counties heading in the wrong…
Former West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Outreach Coordinator and current Manna Meal Inc. Executive Director Tara Martinez penned this guest blog piece. Martinez brings a provider perspective that urges Congress to reject cuts to food assistance and pass the Senate Farm Bill. The House version - which dramatically cuts food assistance - and the Senate version - which…
Among our West Virginia hills, it's likely the most common questions heard upon entering someone's home are: "are you hungry?" and "would you like something to eat." Food bonds us and fuels us. It's engrained in our culture - from garden canning to church meals - making sure our neighbors have enough to eat is…