The Alaska House of Representatives voted 38-1 on Wednesday to approve a fast-moving budget bill that spends as much as $365 million to cover a shortfall in state revenue caused by lower-than-expected oil prices. The bill also includes $6.8 million to immediately address a crisis in the state’s food-stamp program. Staffing shortages have created huge […]
Ten Alaskans are suing the state, saying it failed to provide food stamps within the time frames required by federal law. The complaint was filed Friday in Superior Court in Anchorage against Alaska Health Commissioner Heidi Hedberg. The lawsuit said that in her role as commissioner of a department that failed to provide needed services, Hedberg “has […]
The USDA’s record 27% increase in food stamp benefits “is a large advance for poverty reduction, nutrition, and opportunity for children,” said one economist. Progressives on Monday commended the Biden administration for approving the largest permanent expansion of food benefits in the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which anti-poverty advocates say will help improve health and […]
“Trump’s biggest regulatory attack on SNAP is officially dead and buried.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday announced the official end of a Trump-era policy that could have stripped federal food benefits from more than a million people during the coronavirus pandemic by imposing more draconian work requirements on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients. A federal court allowed […]