WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has moved to prevent a cutoff or curtailment of food stamps and other nutrition programs endangered by the shutdown — programs that help feed hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents.
Food Stamps
Posted inNews
Food stamps, other federal nutrition programs, threatened by prolonged shutdown
WASHINGTON — With no end to the federal shutdown in sight, anti-hunger advocates are becoming anxious about the fate of federal nutrition programs like food stamps, school lunches, and other programs for the poor that are run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one of the shuttered agencies. Some could be run temporarily with state money, but the fate of others is in limbo if the shutdown continues beyond the end of the month.
Posted inPolitics
USDA moves to require states like CT to expand food stamp work requirements
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Thursday moved to tighten work requirements for food stamps, a change in policy that could affect up to 39,000 in Connecticut who receive this food assistance.
Posted inPolitics
Congress approves farm bill that rejects food stamp cuts, helps CT dairy farmers
WASHINGTON – Congress approved a new farm bill Wednesday that rejects President Donald Trump’s plan to impose work requirements on food stamp recipients, allocates billions of dollars in subsidies to American farmers, and provides new help to Connecticut’s vulnerable dairy industry.
Posted inPolitics
Showdown on food stamps looms in Congress
WASHINGTON – Unless there’s a last-minute deal, there will be a huge showdown in Congress next week over the future of food stamps, a federal program that helps feed about 400,000 individuals and families in Connecticut. House conservatives — and President Donald Trump — want to add new work requirements to the program, but there’s resistance in the Senate to that idea.
Posted inHealth
Advocates: DSS call center wait times must be fixed
A group of Medicaid enrollees, providers and advocates demanded Thursday that the state Department of Social Services address the long wait times and dropped calls at its five-year-old call center.
Posted inEducation
U.S. House bill cuts thousands from Connecticut’s free school lunch program
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House on Thursday narrowly approved a massive farm bill that would cut thousands of children from free school meals in Connecticut. That bill, opposed by every House Democrat, would curb eligibility for food stamps, too.
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro: Cut farm bill handouts to the wealthy, not food stamps
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House is about to vote on a farm bill that will reduce eligibility for food stamps, a move that has caused a partisan split, with most Democratic lawmakers opposing the legislation. If the changes become law, they could impact tens of thousands of food stamp recipients in the state.
Posted inPolitics
Congress moves to tighten food stamp rules
Updated at 7:10 p.m.
WASHINGTON — A massive farm bill approved by the House Agriculture Committee Wednesday would end food stamp benefits for many childless adults in 114 Connecticut towns, unless those beneficiaries get a job or work training. Republicans said the change would encourage more recipients to move out of poverty while Democrats said it was a mean-spirited degradation of a critical part of the social safety net.
Posted inHealth
CT bill would require that certain Medicaid enrollees work
A number of legislative Republicans are advocating a bill aimed at imposing work requirements for some Medicaid recipients while also doing away with exemptions from work requirements now allowed to some food stamp recipients in Connecticut.
Posted inPolitics
USDA may impose work requirements on CT food stamp recipients
WASHINGTON — Single, unemployed adults without children who receive food stamps in Connecticut may soon see those benefits end under new regulations being considered by the Trump administration.
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro fights political winds with book making case for social safety net
WASHINGTON — Three years ago, veteran Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro felt compelled to do one of the few things she had never done before – write a book. The result is “The Least Among Us: Waging the Battle for the Vulnerable,” a smooth read about her fight to protect the social safety net and her battles with both Republicans and Democrats who disagreed with her position or her approach. We talk to her about it in this week’s Sunday conversation.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Trump budget would cut or end food stamps for many in CT
WASHINGTON — Kimberly Hart of New Haven is among more than 400,000 Connecticut residents who depend on food stamps — a program that would be cut under President Donald Trump’s budget, which also shifts some of the responsibility of feeding those in need to individual states.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Trump budget: CT health, education, research hit — defense a mixed bag
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s budget would require Connecticut to drop residents from key social and health programs in the state, and make tough decisions on how to handle other proposed federal cuts to education, housing and the environment. Connecticut’s congressional delegation vowed to fight it.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Trump budget would rip CT safety net for poor
Updated at 9:35 p.m.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s first budget, to be released in detail Tuesday, would cut Medicaid funding to Connecticut and eliminate other programs state residents rely upon to try to make ends meet, such as one that helps low-income people heat their homes. Many of the proposed cuts will meet resistance from Congress.
