PROPOSED SNAP CUTS COME ON TOP OF RECENT CUTS

Legislators considering SNAP cuts this year — the House budget calls for $125 billion in cuts over the next decade, for example — should bear in mind that any future cuts would come on top of other recent cuts.  About 1 million unemployed, childless adults are slated to lose SNAP during 2016 as a 3-month limit on benefits returns in many areas.  And nearly every SNAP recipient experienced a benefit cut averaging 7% in November 2013 when the benefit boost in the 2009 Recovery Act expired. That expiration slashed benefits by about $20 per household per month, on average — equivalent to 10 meals a month, reducing total SNAP benefits by about $5 billion in fiscal year 2014.

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 3/31/15, New Cuts on Top of Old