"FoodStamps" news and stories

Food stamp users, prepare for some belt-tightening. Harkening back to Clinton-era welfare economics of 1996, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has proposed a $6.2 trillion cut to annual federal deficits for the next decade. The proposal, which passed the House earlier this month and resumes legislation today as Senators return from Easter-Passover break, would have a major impact on nutritional assistance programs.

The Ryan budget plan looks to cut the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 20 percent between 2012 to 2021 by capping the open-ended system with a block-grant -- either by capping eligibility or benefits, or both. This means benefits would not fluctuate with economic need. States would instead be allotted a max.

Should recipients of food stamps be required to pass a drug test in order to receive their benefits?

Some Republican legislators in New Hampshire think so, and they've proposed a new law that would subject food-stamp recipients to random drug tests. A number of other states, such as Oregon, Kentucky, Missouri and Nebraska, are considering similar laws.

No doubt, when taken at face value, these laws sound eminently reasonable. After all, thousands of U.S. workers are required to pass drug tests in order to apply for or keep their jobs.

But as a number of civil liberties and public health organizations point out, such testing relies on unproven stereotypes about people who receive public assistance and the testing can cost taxpayers more money than it saves.

Like many other states, Tennessee has seen its food stamp applications surge since the economy faltered. But the state's found an especially novel way to deal with the deluge: Tennessee's Department of Human Services has hired more than 1,500 food stamp recipients to help process the applications.

"It's really been win-win," says department spokesperson Michelle Mower Johnson. "People aren't waiting months to get their benefits, and it gives the workers something to put on their resumes."

A few of the best links on the Web this week:

• Back-of-the-box recipes used to be basic -- but not anymore.
• Gwyneth Paltrow discovers the delights of fried Southern food and shares her "Quest for the Best Fried Chicken."
• The food bus is the latest take on the food truck even offers patrons a place to sit and eat.
• Unemployed? There's no law against using food stamps for gourmet provisions.

We talked earlier this month about whether we could live on a $15 a week grocery budget. Many of us thought we could, though it would be hard, time-consuming and rather boring. Now, CNN reporter Sean Callebs is attempting to see what it's like to eat for $176 a month, the most a single food stamp recipient can get in a month. The economic stimulus bill is calling for raising food stamp payments by 13 percent, a sign that the current payments are not enough, Callebs says.

So far he seems to be doing OK, eating basic but healthful meals like chicken stir fry and grilled cheese sandwiches with salads. He's also eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and a lot of pasta with tomato sauce. But, Callebs points out, he has time to cook and is well-educated on which cheap foodstuffs are also healthy. He also has energy to run three or four miles a day, making his carb-heavy diet less of a weight gain risk. The average food stamp recipient may be working two jobs, with little time to spend in the kitchen chopping and stir-frying lean cuts of chicken.

Callebs is also getting a lot of interesting comments, ranging from budget and shopping tips to admonishments to "stop whining" to thank-yous for raising awareness about consumer food spending.

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