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USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack sent out a letter to the governors of 44 states — including Missouri and Kansas — that are not meeting federal standards for processing SNAP applications.
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Missouri’s child welfare agency took at least $6.1 million in foster kids’ benefits last year to reimburse itself for the cost of providing care. It’s a longstanding practice that has come under increased scrutiny across the country.
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Two Missouri senators have filed legislation that would remove the state's remaining restrictions on providing food benefits to those convicted of felony drug offenses. Missouri's rules comprise "one of the nation’s most stringent bans for receiving SNAP benefits."
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The program would provide $40 in food benefits for each month an eligible child is on summer break, loaded onto a card that can be used like a debit card to purchase groceries. Missouri's decision is nonbinding, and the state now has until Feb. 15 to submit a detailed plan to the federal government.
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Roughly 429,000 Missouri children would be eligible to receive $51.5 million in food benefits next summer if the state chooses to participate in the federal program. Missouri has until January 1 to decide.
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A federal lawsuit alleges that Missouri's dysfunctional system prevents low-income residents from getting food aid. Now that the state is also reassessing the Medicaid eligibility of more than 1 million recipients — and kicking people off the rolls — advocates said those flaws have escalated into a crisis for the most vulnerable.
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The total lunch debt students have accumulated in Kansas climbed to more than $23 million last year. Many school districts have policies that single out kids when they can’t afford to pay, and a new report shows that can hurt families, even if those policies aren’t strictly enforced.
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A new study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children was underutilized. In 2021, it served only about half the number of people that qualified.
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Most other states have expanded limits on the value of savings and assets people can own and still get food stamps.
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As some states wrap up this year’s summer food aid program, Missouri is still distributing last year’s benefits for children. The state also declined tens of millions in federal aid for low-income kids in part because officials lacked confidence they could disperse those benefits by the deadline.
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During the pandemic, SNAP rules were relaxed so students weren’t required to participate in state or federally funded work programs such as work-study. Those temporary pandemic rules allowed 3 million more students to qualify for food stamps, but now many are no longer eligible.
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Transition benefits gradually reduce the amount of benefits someone gets from things like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as their income rises. The measure is seen as a way to incentivize people to earn more money working, without falling off the so-called benefit cliff.