New Report From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorites Shows Devastating Impact of Current Economy on Food stamp Recipients

FOOD STAMP BENEFITS FALLING FURTHER
BEHIND RISING FOOD PRICES
By Dorothy Rosenbaum

The current economic slowdown has coincided with a sharp increase in food prices, which has exacerbated hardship for many low-income families who also face high gas prices (and will face high home heating bills this fall and winter). Food stamp benefit levels are supposed to be sufficient to enable households to afford the “Thrifty Food Plan,” a low-cost but nutritionally adequate diet established by USDA.[1] Since 1996, however, when Congress cut food stamp benefits, the level of benefits has fallen short in almost every month.[2]

Periods of rapid food price inflation — such as the last several years — exacerbate this problem because food stamp benefit levels are based on food price data that become increasingly outdated over the course of the year. For example, the actual cost of the foods in the Thrifty Food Plan for a household of four was about $430 more over the course of fiscal year 2008 than the Food Stamp Program assumed would be necessary to purchase these foods. Low-income households had to make up the entire difference on their own. With food prices expected to continue rising in fiscal year 2009, food stamp benefits will likely once again be insufficient unless Congress enacts a temporary benefit increase.

View the full report at: http://www.cbpp.org/7-22-08fa.htm