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Biden slashes food aid for 42 million despite soaring prices

Thursday, 02 March 2023 8:24 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 02 March 2023 8:24 AM ]

Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Chicago

Even though inflation remains at a 40-year high, US President Joe Biden has terminated a program that provided extra food money for over 40 million of the poorest Americans.

The elderly, the disabled, students, poor children and the working poor are now forced to find an average of nearly $100 more every month to spend on food. With sanctions on Russia still massively backfiring across the West, grocery prices have increased more than 11% over the last year.

The expansion of so-called “food stamps” was both popular and successful, leading to an immediate 10% reduction in the overall poverty rate and a 14% drop in child poverty.

Experts on food insecurity contend that food aid to the poor has been insufficient, and that was long before the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program started seeing cuts.

Without government involvement, citizens can only turn to charities for help. In states which have prematurely stopped the expanded food aid food banks are already reporting a 40% increase in the number of visitors.

Last year, the ruling Democrats voted to end the pandemic’s expansion of Medicaid, the federal program which provides a bare minimum of health care for the poor. At the end of this month, at least 15 million people will also lose their health insurance.

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