Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Protecting the Safety Net

House Agriculture Committee Farm Bill Would Cut Nearly 2 Million People Off SNAP

On May 15, the House Agriculture Committee passed its 2013 farm bill. The bill would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) by almost $21 billion over the next decade, eliminating food assistance to nearly 2 million low-income people, mostly working families with children and senior citizens.

The bill’s SNAP cuts would come on top of an across-the-board reduction in benefits that every SNAP recipient will experience starting November 1, 2013.
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More: Food Assistance analyses

Impact of Sequestration

Why the FAA Vote Isn’t a Model for Dealing with Sequestration

Congress’ vote to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to shift funds away from other areas to pay air traffic controllers has revived questions about whether this approach can solve the many other problems associated with the sequestration budget cuts.

It can’t.

Simply put, there aren’t secret pots of gold within federal departments that can painlessly replace sequestration. Policymakers should replace sequestration with a balanced mix of spending cuts and tax increases that protect important public services and the still struggling economy. Read more

Congress Addresses Flight Delays, But Leaves Other Problems Unsolved

Delays in air travel inconvenience travelers and harm the economy. But many other sequestration-related cuts that receive much less attention are far more damaging:

So far, roughly 800,000 workers in 19 states have seen their unemployment benefits cut by a little more than 10 percent — or about $120 a month, on average.
Already, some Head Start programs are cutting their programs for the current school year — dropping children from the program, ending the school year several weeks early, or cutting services such as bus transportation.
Some Meals on Wheels seniors programs in various states are cutting the number of home-delivered meals provided or seniors served.
CBPP estimates that 140,000 fewer households will receive vouchers to help them afford decent housing.

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