The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits provided under the stimulus bill are set to expire November 1. Atlantic Cities reports on Food Pantries and their fears of not being able to provide the extra meals:
The 2009 stimulus bill upped benefit allocations for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, across the country. Those increases are set to expire November 1. The average family will lose between $29 and $36 in benefits each month. And right now, it doesn’t look like Congress plans to do much to stop that. If anything, House Republicans would like to see the program slashed even further….
Food pantries and anti-hunger organizations are trying to prepare for the influx of additional meals needy Americans will need come November. But a major obstacle to the planning effort is that many food banks don’t have the resources to track which of their clients use SNAP benefits, so they just aren’t sure how needs will change once benefits are cut.
Maura Daly, of anti-hunger group Feeding America, estimates that food banks across the country will need to provide millions of extra meals next year. And if Congress cuts the program by an additional $40 billion, as some Republicans want, that number could be as high as 15 billion meals over ten years.*
