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Food

More than a Million Americans Are About to Lose Access to Food Stamps

1.1 million unemployed recipients of food stamps only have until the end of March before they lose all their food aid and are once again forced to fend for themselves.
Photo via Flickr user USDAgov

The first of each month is a time of new beginnings—we've survived yet another month on this mortal coil and are ready to seize the proverbial day. But even though today is the first day of February, for 1.1 million unemployed recipients of food stamps—or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as it is now know—time is steadily running short.

That's because they only have until the end of March before they lose all their food aid and are once again forced to fend for themselves. And it looks like we have the rebounding economy to thank for it.

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It comes down to this: SNAP benefits are tied to employment, and have been for the last 20 or so years. Basically, unless adult recipients are unable to work or are caring for children, they must be actively working to receive more than three months of food aid per year.

All that changed, however, when the Great Recession hit full swing in 2008. In a move meant to recognize the overall lack of job opportunities in the US, both state and federal governments waived the three-month cap on SNAP benefits. Now that the economy is rebounding, however, 22 states and the federal government have moved to reinstate the three-month time period.

That means, come the end of March, get ready for a long and hungry time for many Americans. It is estimated that more than a million current SNAP recipients will be without benefits as of the end of March.

According to The Associated Press, the move is seen as the largest reinstatement of the three-month requirement since the start of the recession. The states involved are Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, and Tennessee—which went from statewide waivers to none at all—and Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia—which are disallowing the waiver in parts of those states.

While states are encouraged by the federal government to provide worker placement programs for unemployed SNAP recipients, they aren't required in any way to do so.

Some states will still be able to keep the waiver of the three-month cap in place by demonstrating that the state has an unemployment rate that is over 10 percent, a surplus of workers, or an unemployment rate that is 20 percent higher than the national average for two years in a row. But even then, recipients will have to show that they are looking for a job, and they'll have to take any reasonable job they can get. And, even states that actually qualify to continue the waiver can reinstate it, should they choose to do so.

It looks as though by April Fools' Day, the hunger problem in this country may have really begun to rear its ugly head.