WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2023) The end of a pandemic-era boost in nutrition benefits affecting millions of low-income families and individuals across the United States has many fearful the reductions will exacerbate hunger and poverty within the Washington metro area.
Temporary covid emergency allotments under the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, expired at the end of February. The program provides monthly payments to low-income individuals and families via a special debit card, which is accepted at most food stores.
The program, which includes about 42 million Americans, had provided on average about $260 per month to individuals and $490 per month to families, according to US Food and Nutrition Service data. With the covid boost ending, the average SNAP participant will see monthly benefits drop by $90 and households by $250, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
Residents in Washington, DC will lose a total of about $14 million in monthly benefits now that the extra allotments have ceased, a gap that DC Hunger Solutions said emergency food providers are incapable of filling.
Emily, a mother of five living in the Washington metropolitan area, typifies the dilemma of the poor and middle class who must struggle with the cuts in a worsening socioeconomic situation.
"We were getting an extra $295 Dollars a month during COVID-19, which really helped especially during the lockdowns," Emily told Sputnik. "But recently, we were informed that the extra allotment would be cut. Now my (disabled) daughter is getting $65 a month. How can anyone live on that?"
The government, Emily added, needs to focus on strengthening the safety net for the working poor and middle class because so many hardworking people and those with disabilities are "falling through the cracks."
The emergency allotments had helped keep about 4.2 million people above the poverty line during the last quarter of 2021, with Blacks and Latinos being the Primary beneficiaries, according to an Urban Institute study.
Social justice activist Kymone Freeman emphasized that politicians have failed to adequately address the needs of ordinary Americans, especially Blacks.
"This sounds like more austerity to me. The fact that they are cutting anything at this time is obscene, immoral. All it means is more hardship for the poor," Freeman told Sputnik. "The cuts are contributing to hunger. Thirty percent of the children in Washington live in poverty. A budget is a moral document and this is where their morality lies."
Freeman said what is needed are deliverables from politicians with input from communities.
"When they developed the legislation, they didn't engage us. I'm not saying they won't make some progress, but it's not enough. It's never going to be enough when it comes from the top down. They'll give us just enough to stop protesting and go home," he said.
Empower DC organizing director Daniel del Pielago sees the reductions as a deliberate policy choice aimed directly at the working class, low-income households, and the poor in this country.
"It's part of the onslaught on safety net services being cut. I just heard from the city that they're cutting the Emergency Rental Program six-and-a-half months earlier than expected. Rents in May will go up 8.9% here in Washington," he warned.
Pielago explained that Washington is "super expensive" and there are no livable wages for a certain segment of the population, which is particularly hard amid a sustained attack on low-income people.
"We have a bunch of people making these decisions which don't benefit low-income residents and Black people. They were attempting (to cut the benefits) and now they're having success," he concluded.
