Texas has the third-highest rate of food insecurity in the nation — 18.5 percent of households struggled to acquire enough healthy food in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Although 14.7 percent of U.S. households had difficulty affording healthy food at some point in 2011, the federal government is considering cutting $16 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, as part of a national effort to tighten the federal budget.
More than 3 million Americans, including 302,800 Texans, will lose food stamp benefits in 2013 if the U.S. Congress approves proposed federal cuts to the SNAP, according to the federal Office of Management and Budget. That’s about 8.5 percent of Texans enrolled in the program as of June 2012.
Based on the estimates from the OMB, the Texas Food Bank Network calculated the number of Texans that would lose food stamp benefits in 2013 by county. The Tribune has mapped those estimates here, and included other information about the number of food stamp recipients in June 2012, such as the total money given to the county that month and the estimated economic impact.
Hover over a county to see the number of food stamp beneficiaries in June 2012, the number of recipients who could lose benefits in 2013 and the estimated economic impact.
The proposed $16 billion cut “would result not only in families losing their benefits, but it would really undermine Texas’ efforts to encourage families to save,” said Celia Cole, chief executive officer of the Texas Food Bank Network. Texas has raised the asset limit for those who qualify for SNAP benefits in order to encourage households to save money and work toward long-term solutions to pull the family out of poverty, rather than continuously depend on government aid. If the proposed cuts are approved, Texas would have to revert to federal standards on asset limits, and many Texans would no longer qualify for benefits. “You could potentially have someone with a $6,000 car get kicked off the program," Cole said.
SNAP currently provides assistance to more than 3.5 million Texans, 1.9 million of whom are younger than 18. In June 2012, the state received $426 million in food stamps, which had an estimated $762 million economic impact to local communities, according to the calculations by the Tribune using an economic multiplier determined by the USDA.
As Jeremy Everett, director of the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University, explained to the Tribune, the SNAP benefits have a “trickle-up” effect on the economy because food stamp recipients “immediately reinvest that money in their local grocery store, which creates working-class jobs,” and in turn, “necessitates middle-class management jobs, and the money trickles up to the owners of the company.”
As an editorial by the Houston Chronicle opposed to the proposed cuts pointed out in August, SNAP provides about $30 a week — or $4 a day — for individuals struggling to afford a meal, and reduction in food stamp funding would put more pressure on food pantries and the Texas Food Bank Network to keep Texans fed.
“Despite anecdotes of food stamp abuse, SNAP recipients shop for nutritious food for their families,” the Houston Chronicle editorial said. “At a major grocery chain in Houston, the top three most-purchased items with SNAP were bananas, bread and tomatoes.”
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Comments (11)
Cris Sleightholm
About time the free loaders are kicked off.
V Marshall
Anecdotes of food stamp abuse? The Houston Chronicle ran a story and an editorial regarding home delivery of groceries paid for with SNAP benefits. The most purchased foods were processed "junk" food at more than 30% of the cost the same items would be in a store according to the article. But sure there is no waste or abuse in the program. EVERYONE has home delivery of groceries right so why should the "poor" be penalized.
tthomas48
I know Chris. Dang kids! Why don't they just choose to be born to rich parents? Why do they choose to be born at all if they're going to choose to be poor?
A Little Casuistry Goes a Long Way via Texas Tribune on Facebook
After becoming a Food Stamp nation, the benefits of food stamps to the Agricultural Lobby are clear, but here is an explanation of how it benefits grocery chains and even its "trickle up" economic stimulus. In a nation with 1 out of every 3 Americans obesenot FAT, but grossly FAT, perhaps it is time to go on a national diet and allow people to struggle a bit more to increase their fitness and self-sufficiency.
Rob D Wiltzius via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Trickle up or trickle down, if you're not doing anything productive to receive benefits it just looks like a freebie. Someone is being charged the money for the benefits. My wife was on WIC for a little bit while we had to pay for formula, but if formula wasn't subsidized then it wouldn't cost as much. Texans should be too proud to take assistance, but this is not the case. I think EBT cards need to go back to paper checks to make it a hassle to use and give beneficiaries shame in using them. "The best way to help the poor is to make them uncomfortable in their poverty." Who said that?
Rob D Wiltzius via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Also, if trickle up is true, let's give the state's poor a million dollars each and watch that trickle up economy flourish. We would all get rich on their millions.
Mary Muna via Texas Tribune on Facebook
ththem to disabled vets and seniors...take em away for all we care and start over giving them to citizens who need them and earned them.ey won't give
Bonnie McGuire
It's easy to criticize a program that some people abuse, but if you cut it too close to the bone just to spite the abusers, you end up with the same result you were trying to prevent in the first place....families with children that go hungry.
Mary Stevenson
A LOT of the people on food stamps are on it and need groceries delivered because they can't due to work injuries and a sorry workers compensation system that works for the businesses and insurance companies and not for the worker. There are many elderly poor that are not able to get heavy bags and big items home. I spoke with a customer service manager at Wal-mart recently and she told me that our area was one of the top three areas for food stamp usage. I have personally spoken with people who simply can not find a job - it is not that they are lazy or not trying to find one. I know that it is easy for some to rely on their families and friends for assistance or their trust fund but many people don't have that option. Maybe if you tried working for a charity that is trying to help these people you would get a different attitude.
Christine Lund
For one person making less than a $1000 a month, food stamps provides $16 in benefits. That is utterly absurd. The only thing that makes sense would be to give anyone making less than minimum wage, at least $175 a month in food stamps for one person minimum.
Christine Lund
Many food stamps recipients are elderly and disabled. Many are families with children that have disabilities. Many are just sick. It sure seems easy to just call us all bums but time is a tricky thing and one day, you may find yourself needing food stamps and then you will sing a different tune, Cris.