Trump’s Food Stamp Cuts Would Take School Meals Away From Nearly One Million Kids
October 17th 2019
volunteers sorting food stamps (Dario Crespi)
By Emily Singer
The Trump administration’s crusade against the poor continues.
On Monday, the administration released an internal analysis about the impact of proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.
According to the analysis, “as many as 982,000 children would no longer be directly certified for free school meals,” increasing the cost of living for poor families who now have to pay for meals for their children.
“Of the total number of impacted children, about 445,000 (or 45 percent) would be income eligible for free meals, and about 497,000 (or 51 percent) would be income eligible for reduced price meals,” according to the study.
According to the House Committee on Education and Labor, that’s twice the number of kids the Trump administration previously said would lose access to free school meals.
The changes are because the Trump administration wants to raise the household income that triggers eligibility for food stamps.
Households whose income exceeds 185 percent of the federal poverty level are no longer eligible for free school meals. In 2018, a family of four earning 200 percent of the federal poverty level earned just $50,200.
The Trump administration has been seeking cuts to the social safety net for years, trying to kick millions of poor Americans off of programs like food stamps and Medicaid.
At the same time, the Trump administration pushed for and passed tax cuts for the rich.
Most ironically of all, however, is that the Trump administration released the findings of how their proposed food stamp changes would impact kids on “National School Lunch Week.”
As the saying goes for this administration, the cruelty is the point.
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