Myra Feagin is an employed Baltimore resident, pregnant mother of one, and a nine-year participant in the Maryland food stamp program. She struggles to put food on the table for three.
“Of all things in the world, I would feel better with food stamps than cash,” said the full-time home healthcare provider. “I can live in a homeless shelter, but I need food.”
Feagin, 28, is one of nearly 783,000 people in Maryland receiving supplemental food assistance—a number that went up 9 percent this past year—the third-highest increase of any state, according to the Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit research organization.
Despite a national increase in food stamp participants, the House of Representatives voted 217 – 210 in favor of $40 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next decade.
And with the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act’s temporary boost to SNAP benefits scheduled to come to an end this November, cuts in SNAP – the federal food stamp program – could plunge nearly 48 million Americans into deeper levels of food insecurity, according to the Food Research and Action Center.
Michael J. Wilson, director of Maryland Hunger Solutions, said now is not the right time to take food off of peoples’ tables, with a U.S. Department of Agriculture study showing little to no change in food insecurity, and U.S. Census data released this week, showing a near-generation high poverty rate of 15 percent.
“The struggles people are going through are real and are documented by the Census and USDA,” he said.
Maryland had the third highest increase in participation from June 2012 to June 2013, following Illinois with 15 percent and Wyoming with 11 percent.
The most significant rise in enrollment in Maryland occurred in Prince George’s County, where an additional 16,000 people received assistance, or an 18 percent increase.
The second highest growth in participation was in Charles County and Anne Arundel County, each at 14 percent.
“The number of people who use food stamps is increasing; people are losing their jobs,” said Arnette Snowden, 86, a volunteer at the Asbury United Methodist Church in Annapolis, which hosts a food bank several days each week.
“There are a whole lot of new faces coming now,” said Snowden, who has been volunteering at the food pantry for 13 years.
Faces like Earline Tungur’s, 56, an Annapolis resident who started using food stamps two years ago after the cleaning company she worked for went out of business. Now she works part-time for an insurance company and comes to the food pantry whenever she needs to help her daughter and grandchildren.
“The food stamps help a lot, because some people lost their job and don’t have part time jobs,” she said.
In addition to the economy, Wilson said outreach has helped increase participation in Maryland.
“It’s a tough time out there,” he said. “And I think we have made an effort for people who are eligible [to] get benefits.”
Although food stamp use in Maryland has risen to 14 percent, it is still lower than the national average of 16 percent, according to the Food Research and Action Center.
And although there has been an upturn in personal income, business investment, goods exports and consumer spending, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, one million more people became part of food supplement programs between June 2012 and June 2013 nationwide.
According to Lisa Klingenmaier, an anti-hunger program associate for Maryland Hunger Solutions, the rise in economy is false, unless you are in the top 1 percent of earners.
“This is why there has not been an economic recovery for everyone else,” she said. “Particularly those in poverty and on food stamps.”
About one in seven people received SNAP and/or were unemployed or underemployed, according to the USDA report released earlier this month.
“It is not a coincidence that these numbers are similar; both SNAP participation and the [unemployment rate] reflect economic hardship and employment inadequacy,” according to a June 2013 Food Research and Action Center report.
But Rep. Andy Harris, R-Cockeysville, voted Thursday to cut SNAP funding.
“We want to get food stamps into the hands of those people who deserve it. … If we’re going to help you with food stamps, and we are, then we need you to either work, look for employment, if you’re able-bodied, not disabled and able to work,” Harris told CNN Thursday.
“There are people who are getting it who probably shouldn’t be. … We know there’s waste, fraud and abuse,” he said.
The House measure differs from a $4 billion cut to the food stamp program that the U.S. Senate passed in June, according to the Food Research and Action Center.
But Marissa Hayes, 24, a Baltimore food stamp recipient, hopes Congress does not cut the program. She has been unemployed for three weeks and has been going to different pantries, churches and friends’ houses to keep her and her 1-year-old son fed.
“I do almost everything I can to survive,” she said. “It’s unfair that [the House] is trying to cut [SNAP], but at the same time I can understand why they’re trying to. I just don’t think they realize how many people are affected.”
And Feagin is hoping to avoid seeing the disappointed look on her nine-year-old daughter’s face when she opens the door to an empty refrigerator.
“When you ask a person the three things you need to survive, food is one,” she said.
By NATALIE KORNICKS and ZAINAB MUDALLAL
Tim O'Brien says
Editor,
The most appalling thing is that Harris is a doctor and knows kids are the greatest beneficiaries of food stamps.
Kids who are hungry are not undeserving nor are responsible for their circumstances.
Kent county may not have increased food stamp usage much but there are plenty of people here depending on food stamps to make ends meet.
The Tea Party has warped the issues and have pointed out a few bad people who abuse the system as a reason to chop it for everyone. They have other agenda’s and are just using poor people as pawns. What happened to moderate politicians, republican or democrat, that can think for themselves and care about doing the right thing rather than obstructing or don’t stand up because to scared of losing their seats to privately funded and controlled (Koch Brother’s) Tea Party radicals.
Common sense and the common good are no longer in politician’s minds and all American’s are poorer for it. We need to vote in moderates on both sides who can hear public opinion over their own ideology or self interests.
Tim O'Brien says
Editor,
Here is nice article on Rep. Harris complaining he has to wait a month to get his new Government health insurance just as he votes to cut others access to health insurance. How embarrassing that he represents us.
https://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html
Mary Wood says
Editor,
It is discouraging to think our district, with its rivers and fertile fields is represented by someone like Harris. Isn’t he a Doctor? Don’t they swear an oath ?
“Do No Harm”
Jeanette Sherbondy says
Editor,
Rep. Harris is an anesthesiologist. He routinely brings people close to death.
The food stamp program has been important for years because it gets food to the hungry fast, not months or years too late. Fraud? Does Rep. Harris see fraud everywhere in spite of lack of evidence, yet ignores the obvious frauds that are well documented?
Jack Dorsey says
Editor,
Representative Harris and his GOP/Tea Party brethren will guard the sacred cows of Wall Street, big banks, big oil,pharmaceutical companies, farm subsidies and whatever the Koch brothers want. They will also stick it to the middle and lower class every chance they get. It is disgraceful for this man to be a physician and vote in the manner he does. Do no harm sound familiar? He must be proud to serve in the least productive, most obstructive Congress in history.
Will anyone remember these things when asked for a campaign contribution? My response will be, ” I care about the least among us. You do not.”
Dennis Leventhal says
Editor,
So, our Eastern Shore congressman, Rep. Harris, voted against the Farm Bill, which indicates he doesn’t like Eastern Shore farmers. Now he has voted to cut the food aid bill, which indicates he doesn’t like Eastern Shore poor and struggling people. I wonder who he does like here on the Eastern Shore, where he does not reside.
Howard McCoy says
Editor,
Sure hope Representative Harris is planning on going door to door to check on all those folks that are receiving food stamps to make sure they are deserving. It’s a good thing the Congressman gave up being a physician, because if his shingle were still hanging out he might have to serve some of those same people he finds undeserving of food stamps, mainly because they’re not getting enough decent food for themselves and their families and hence are getting sick. Republican wisdom at its best!!!
Maria Wood says
Editor,
What a good idea, to have Dr. Harris personally care for the people whose health suffers from the inability to obtain sufficient amounts of nourishing food due to poverty, unemployment, and disability.
For shame.
Norman Dulak says
Editor,
During the George W Bush administration, there was something known as Republication Compassionate Conservatism. I think that term might have been fairly applied to president Bush, because of his support for programs to combat AIDS in Africa. But in my opinion, the present Republican party has entirely abandoned that principle. Now, their mantra is to simply slash the cost of government, regardless of who is hurt. That applies to the millions of Americans who have no health insurance, and who may become bankrupt or die for lack of basic medical treatment. And now it applies to poor, hungry children who may not receive the basic assistance they need to survive and progress in our society.
Representative Harris justified his position on the food stamp legislation in a television interview on the ground that it would eliminate waste and abuse. But I suggest that if that is Mr. Harris’s objective, he should look to eliminate waste and abuse in the defense industry, farm subsidies, and the petroleum industry, instead of taking food from the mouths of poor, hungry children.
Steve Payne says
Editor,
Mr. Harris’ claim that the reductions are for work requirements is only partially true. There are cuts proposed across many categories. It should also be noted that these proposed cuts are in addition to the scheduled cuts coming up in Nov. 2013.
Here is some more detailed information I think readers will find useful:
https://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=4009
https://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3899
https://www.fns.usda.gov/ora/SNAPCharacteristics/Maryland/Maryland_1.pdf