Impending Cuts to Anti-Poverty Food Program Will Cost Michigan $183 million and Bring Greater Food Insecurity to Families and Children
By Marissa Zamudio
On November 1, 2013, the temporary boost to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is due to expire, taking a slice out of the food budgets of families, especially, low income families with children. In Michigan, one in six people receive SNAP benefits and will be affected. Such a cut is likely to result in an increase of families with children going hungry – what policy experts call “food insecurity.” Food insecurity is identified as “the lack of consistent access to adequate food” in a May 2013 report titled “Food Insecurity in Households with Children” from the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.