OPINION — I cannot believe it has to be said: Cutting the food stamp program known as Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, by 30 percent is a terrible idea. Instead we should be increasing benefits for poor children and their families so they can eat.
A recent study found that in 99 percent of counties across the US (including all 29 counties in Utah) SNAP’s maximum per-a-meal benefit is less than the average cost of meals low-income households purchase. In fact, that benefit is on average 30 percent too low — and the President’s budget would double that gap. Currently, the maximum per-meal benefit is $1.86. Can you feed your family on that?
Join me in contacting our Utah congressional delegation and tell them to oppose cuts to SNAP and to instead support raising the baseline benefit amount for SNAP.
Submitted by DAVID P. BILLINGS, Salt Lake City.
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