Please take a moment to comment on a proposed change to a key SNAP (food stamps) rule which, if implemented, would take away basic food assistance from an estimated 3.1 million people, mainly working families with children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities.
The SNAP proposal would take over $19 million annually out of our state and local economies. It would require the WV Department of Health and Human Resources to develop a new and potentially costly way of determining eligibility for SNAP households. The agency that oversees SNAP in Mississippi estimates that it would cost the state $1.5 million to change its eligibility methods under the rule. The proposal would also increase the number of hungry West Virginians that our state’s food banks and pantries are asked to serve. Read more in Kelly’s op-ed published today in the Beckley Register-Herald.
Read more about what’s at stake in Proposed SNAP Cuts Could Push 25,000 from Program in this week’s Charleston Gazette-Mail.
More information can also be found in yesterday’s Charleston Gazette-Mail editorial and this blog post by Josh Lohnes, Food Policy Research Director with the WVU Food Justice Lab.
And please take a moment to read this op-ed in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch on how food insecurity impacts active service members and their children.
SNAP helps struggling West Virginia families put food on the table for their kids. Please comment today! Comments due September 23.
In May of 2016, West Virginia policymakers enacted a time limit on SNAP benefits for childless adults in the nine counties with the lowest unemployment: Berkeley, Cabell, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Marion, Monongalia, Morgan and Putnam. While proponents maintained that cutting low-income childless adults from SNAP would boost employment, there is no evidence this happened. In fact, it appears that all it did was take food assistance away from people who face unique barriers to employment, increasing food insecurity across the board.
Read more in Seth’s blog post.
Whether you support Medicare for All or an alternative, here is a look at the numbers and the impact of expanding coverage to everyone, exploring several studies on the financing and distributional impact of Medicare for All proposals.
Join us October 10 in Summersville, WV for the 2nd annual Food for All conference. This has been a landmark year addressing food insecurity in West Virginia and we are excited to reflect and plan for the year to come.
More information available here.
ICYMI: When WV did away with the estate tax in 2001, our tax system became less equitable & more slanted towards the rich. WV can reenact the estate tax & raise $30 million/year for a fairer tax system & to provide needed revenue to invest in our people. For more, check out this report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
August jobs numbers from @workforcewv show no job growth in 2019 in WV as pipeline construction jobs have fallen. Excluding construction, nonfarm payroll employment has grown by just 3,200 jobs over the past two years.
