TIME TO TAKE A BITE OUT OF FOOD STAMPS
By CONNIE CASS and MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) – Food stamps look ripe for the picking, politically speaking.
Through five years and counting of economic distress, the food aid program has swollen up like a summer tomato. It grew to $78 billion last year, more than double its size when the recession began in late 2007.
That makes it a juicy target for conservative Republicans seeking to trim spending and pare government.
But to many Democrats, food stamps are a major element of the country’s commitment to help citizens struggling to meet basic needs.
These competing visions are now clashing in Congress.
The Republican-led House has severed food stamp policy from farm legislation, its longtime safe harbor. A group of GOP lawmakers is planning a separate food stamp bill that would cut the program by as much as 5 percent, or about $4 billion a year.
