States across the country are being told to stop the supplemental
nutrition assistance program for the month of November, pending further
notice.
That’s according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Fox 13 obtained a copy from the Crossroads Urban Center in downtown
Salt Lake City. Crossroads says if Utah families don’t get food stamps,
they’ll turn to the local food pantries, which are already strapped due
to the government shutdown. Homeless people Fox 13 talked to, some who
use SNAP, say losing food stamps would mean going hungry.
“This is going to create a huge hardship for the people we serve here
in our food pantry,” says Bill Tibbits who is the Associate Director at
Crossroads Urban Center.
They posted a letter from the USDA on its Facebook page. It says in
part, “in the interest of preserving maximum flexibility, we are
directing states to hold their November issuance files and delay
transmission to state electronic benefit transfer vendors until further
notice.”
“What this means if there’s not a deal, if Congress doesn’t reach a
deal to get federal government back up and running, in Utah about
100,000 families won’t get food stamp benefit,” says Tibbits.
In other words, tens of thousands of Utah families may not be able to feed their children come November.
People out on the streets like Richard Phillips says, “It could
impact us and it’s going to cause problems because you’re going to come
to find out that people are going to steal and do what they have to do
to survive.”
“People out here are going to go without food,” says Loralee Smith
whose been homeless since August and says the uncertainty is making her
uneasy about where her next meal will come from. “I’m on food stamps, I
don’t know if I’m going to get them, a lot of people are on food stamps
and they don’t know if they’re going to get them.”
Others say if SNAP shuts down, they’ll find a way to feed themselves.
MORE HERE _ http://fox13now.com/2013/10/14/utah-families-on-food-stamps-could-be-cut-off-soon/
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