The GOP's civil war will cut 21 meals a month from food stamp recipients

Philadelphia Inquirer- Life may get harsher and hungrier for nearly three million people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Nov. 1, when food-stamp benefits will be cut overnight for the first time in U.S. history.

It will mean 21 lost meals per month for a family of four - devastating arithmetic for families already living either on the edge or within the abyss of poverty, according to experts on food stamps, now called SNAP for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Why now? The federal stimulus of 2009 had temporarily boosted SNAP benefits to combat the recession. But the increase ends on Halloween, and Congress - already poised to slash the SNAP budget - is unwilling to maintain the boost, experts say.

As a result, 47 million Americans who get food stamps, including 22 million children, will lose $5 billion in benefits in fiscal year 2014 alone.