'Food stamp cliff,' a benefit cut, comes this week

"There is little chance that Congress will act to avert what hunger activists call the 'food stamp cliff'—a cut to the benefits that will affect some 47 million beneficiaries, including children and the elderly," Erik Wasson writes for The Hill. The cut actually would be an elimination of an increase that was part of the economic stimulus package Congress passed in 2009, in the depths of the Great Recession. The "cliff" reference comes from the "fiscal cliff" faced in negotiations over the federal budget.

Anti-hunger groups oppose the cut, set to take effect Nov. 1, that will reduce monthly benefits by $36 per month for families of four and by $11 per month for single adults. "We're hugely concerned . . . this will affect 23 million kids," Tom Nelson of Share Our Strength, a group focused on child hunger, told Wasson. "At a minimum we can't accept more cuts."

Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), pointed out that welfare spending at the end of 2013 will cost more than $217 billion more than welfare spending in 2008. "The current structure of welfare in America depresses cash wages and punishes work," he told The Hill. "Our compassion should compel us to reform welfare and promote wage growth."

"Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said that the food-stamp cliff was ignored by Congress because of the fiscal fights that gripped Washington," Wasson writes. DeLauro said, "Budget negotiations, sequester, the government shutdown. These are big issues, but the food-stamp cut should also be an issue."