Food-stamp debate highlights high levels of rural food insecurity; county data available

Nearly 48 million Americans receive food stamps, and “more than half the counties with the highest concentration of food insecurity are rural, according to an analysis by Feeding America, the nation’s largest network of food banks,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports for The New York Times. To view a Feeding America map of food insecurity by county, click here. Here's a screenshot as an example:

While finding the next meal is a challenge for many, it could become even more difficult if the House passes legislation proposed by Republicans to cut "$40 billion more in food stamps over the next 10 years by imposing work requirements and eliminating waivers for some able-bodied adults."

No matter what Congress decides when it reconvenes next week, benefits will be reduced in November, when a provision in the 2009 stimulus bill expires, Stolberg notes. If the legislation passes, "the cuts would push 4 million to 6 million low-income people, including millions of 'very low-income unemployed parents' who want to work but cannot find jobs, off the rolls, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning research organization. . . . Experts say the problem is particularly acute in rural regions."

And the perception by many, including some Republicans who support the bill, that those on food stamps are too lazy to work, or are homeless, is a misconception. Maura Daly, of Feeding America, told Stolberg, “People have a lot of misimpressions about hunger in America. People think it’s associated with homelessness when, in fact, it is working poor families, it’s kids, it’s the disabled.” Hunger is often invisible, she said, and in rural areas it is even more so." (Read more)